


collide.

by porcelainsimplicity



Series: savor every second together. [3]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom
Genre: Alex is Angry, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Disabled Character, Charles Just Wants People To Trust Him, Charles is Erik's Babysitter, Erik's Attempt at Parenting, Hank is Pining, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Injury Recovery, M/M, Made Up School Doctors, Peter is Angry, Peter is Bored and Inquisitive, Post-Film
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-30
Packaged: 2018-02-15 16:13:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 24,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2235309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/porcelainsimplicity/pseuds/porcelainsimplicity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>even the best fall down sometimes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. day one.

**Author's Note:**

> so this has turned into an ongoing series. no idea how many parts it's going to be, but let's just consider this part three of many. if you read it and you like it, i would appreciate a kudos or a comment letting me know so!

i'm quiet, you know,  
you make a first impression.  
i've found i'm scared to know,  
i'm always on your mind.

even the best fall down sometimes.  
even the stars refuse to shine.  
out of the back you fall in time  
somehow find you and i collide...

don't stop here...  
i lost my place...  
i'm close behind...

even the best fall down sometimes.  
even the wrong words seem to rhyme.  
out of the doubt that fills your mind  
you finally find, you and i collide.  
 _collide_ by howie day  


The delivery came three months into the first semester of the school's reopening, and it had been set on Charles's desk and promptly forgot about because there were students filing into his study for an English class. It took a week after the delivery for Charles to even remember it was there, and another four days after that before he took the box off his desk and opened it while his students were taking a quiz on _The King and I_.

After looking at its contents, he'd swallowed hard, announced the quiz was now homework, and dismissed his class in a very shaky voice.

Once the room had emptied, and the door was shut and locked, Charles returned to his desk and pulled the contents out of the box. It was the familiar telepath-blocking helmet that he knew Erik wore practically all the time, because despite Charles's best efforts, he'd never been able to track him down with Cerebro. There was a note stuck to the top of it, and he peeled it off and unfolded it, reading through the words.

_Find him. He needs you._

He recognized the writing immediately as being Raven's, and his mind immediately flooded with worry. If she was saying that to Charles, then she knew something that Charles didn't, and Charles needed to find Erik immediately.

He hastily wrote a note proclaiming his classes canceled for the rest of the day, stuck it on the outside of his study door, and headed for the elevator. He took it down to the basement level, and the doors opened to see Hank standing there.

“Charles! Just the man I need to see.”

Charles sighed but let Hank ramble on about needing permission to spend some money on some sort of connectors for the Danger Room and how the technology was going along alright, but it was still going to be some time before the Danger Room was ready for students. Charles just nodded, gave him permission to buy the connectors, and then wheeled past him, heading straight for Cerebro.

“Cerebro?” came Hank's voice from behind him. “Shouldn't you be teaching a class right now?”

“This is more important,” Charles said, his voice a lot stronger than he felt. “Someone needs my help, and I have to find them.”

“Alright,” Hank said as the doors to Cerebro opened. “Just let me know if we need to go somewhere.”

“I will,” Charles said as he wheeled himself into the machine, waiting until the doors closed behind him before taking several deep breaths. 

He had to calm himself down, because if he concentrated too hard on Erik, all that he would succeed in doing would be killing him, and the last thing he wanted to do was kill Erik.

He put on the helmet and got the mental connection going, and he began to search. He searched and searched and searched without finding anything, and he was about to give up until he felt more mentally stable when he heard the soft echo of _Charles_ in a familiar voice. He closed his eyes and concentrated on it, and soon the echo was a much fuller voice, and he knew exactly where Erik was.

“Erik, tell me you're alright. Raven's note has me worried.”

_I will be, Charles. Can I recuperate in the mansion?_

“What happened? How badly injured are you?”

_I don't want to tell you this way. And it's really no more than scratches. It's mental more than physical, though I would appreciate a ride to the mansion._

If anything, Charles was more worried now than before. Erik Lehnsherr did not just openly admit to being mentally wounded, not even to him.

“Erik, I'm worried.”

_It's nothing to worry about, Charles. I just need some assistance in getting to the mansion._

“That is not what I was referring to.”

_Charles. I don't want to get into it like this. Please, just help me get to the mansion._

“Hank and I will be there shortly.”

_Don't tell Peter. I don't want him to see me like this. It's bad enough that Hank will._

“I won't, but you know that he will be aware of the fact that you're here.”

_I know. I just don't want him to know it until after I'm there, okay?_

“Alright. How much medical attention do you need?”

_I've patched myself up alright. It's not like I can go to a hospital, Charles._

“That's not what I asked. I asked how much medical attention you need. There's a school doctor here now. Do I need to alert him about any of your injuries so he can be prepared for them?”

_Well, I'm pretty sure my leg is broken. Maybe some ribs too. Really hurts to breathe._

“Just scratches, hm?”

_Don't lecture me, Charles._

“I'm not lecturing you, Erik. I'm worried sick about you.”

_Worry about me in person. Just come get me._

“On my way. Don't move or I'll have the wrong coordinates.”

_Don't worry, I'm in an abandoned factory. No one here to tell me to move, and I'm not going to move an inch._

“Alright. I'll be there as fast as I can.”

_I'll be waiting._

Charles slowly let go of the mental connection until he was fully back inside Cerebro, and then he took the helmet off. He reached up and wiped at his eyes, knowing full well that he couldn't face Hank with tears in them. When he felt he had control of his emotions, he wrote down the coordinates and wheeled himself out of Cerebro down to the Danger Room, where he found Hank working. “Hank?”

“Yes, Charles?”

“I have coordinates we need to go to. And I need you to do this for me without comment.”

Hank stopped, turned, and looked at Charles. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“It means you're not going to be happy about who we're picking up, and I don't want to hear about it. My mansion, my rules. He is welcome here, and right now he needs my help.”

Hank sighed heavily. “Magneto? Again? Charles, the school is open. We can't have Magneto walking around here.”

“From the sounds of it, he's not going to be walking anywhere,” Charles said. “And your opinion on the matter is noted but not considered. He needs my help, Hank. And I will not deny him that.”

Hank stood up and walked over to Charles, taking the piece of paper from him. “I'll get a flight plan put together. I'll let you know when we can leave.”

“As quickly as possible, Hank,” Charles said, wheeling himself out of the room. “And don't tell Peter. Erik doesn't want him to know he's coming until he's here.”

“Whatever you say, Charles.”

Charles took the elevator upstairs to the level his bedroom was on, and then went into Erik's room. He made his way to the dresser and took out some clothes that he knew would probably be more comfortable than the Magneto outfit, if that was what Erik was wearing, and when he turned around to leave, he found Peter standing in the doorway.

“Peter.”

“Is he coming here?” The eagerness in Peter's voice was hard to miss.

Charles sighed. “Soon.”

“It must be really soon if you're in here getting clothes for him. Or maybe he's already here and you've got him stashed away in your bedroom. Can I at least see him if you do?”

“He is not here,” Charles said seriously. “He will be soon, however, and as soon as he says he wants to see you, I will send for you so you can see him, alright?”

Peter stood there for a minute or two, then nodded. “Sounds good.” And then he disappeared, much to Charles's relief.

Charles left Erik's room and went into his own, finding an old duffel bag to put Erik's clothes in, and then he added in some basic medical supplies that he had in his en suite. Bandages, pain killers, and it wasn't until he reached for the antiseptic that he realized his hand was shaking.

Erik had sounded alright, but Erik was _hurt_ , and Charles didn't want to imagine what had hurt him so badly. 

There was a reason Erik had said he was mentally wounded. Charles wasn't going to rest until he found out what that was.

Hank appeared in his bedroom a little while later, telling Charles that the flight plan had been drawn up and all they needed to do was go to the airport and file it with traffic control before they could go. Charles nodded and zipped the bag shut, placing it in his lap and following Hank out of the room. 

They made their way down to the garage and then Charles maneuvered his way into the passenger seat of the car before Hank folded up the wheelchair and put it in the backseat. They rode to the airport in silence, Charles picking up on every one of Hank's thoughts about what a horrible idea this was, and then Hank was dealing with traffic control while Charles was wheeling himself onto the tarmac next to the plane. Hank approached the plane soon after that, and he helped get Charles up the steps and into a seat before going back out for the wheelchair. 

Once they were safely ensconced in the plane, Hank slid into the pilot's seat and got them in the air. Charles reached for the bottle of scotch that was close to him and bypassed the glasses, pulling the top off and letting the hard liquor burn his throat. 

When they had been in the air for a little while, Charles set the scotch down. “Hank?”

“Yes Charles?”

“Where are the coordinates for?”

“Odessa, Texas,” Hank responded after a minute. “We're landing at Midland International Airport. Odessa is just southwest of there. Midland is the closest airport. I've arranged for a rental car.”

“Thank you, Hank.”

Charles leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and let the plane lull him to sleep.

When he woke up, Hank was standing next to the chair. “We've arrived, Charles.”

Charles nodded and then Hank helped him up, down the aisle, and then down the steps to his wheelchair. They went through the process of getting a rental car, and Charles made sure that the bag he'd packed was inside it before he let Hank drive away from the airport. 

It wasn't long until they were in Odessa, and Hank had gotten a map of the town from the rental car company and carefully plotted the coordinates on it, so he knew exactly where to turn to get to the abandoned factory on the outskirts of town. Hank brought the car to a stop in front of it and helped Charles into his wheelchair, and then Charles started wheeling himself towards the door, which had been blocked open. _Erik? We're here._

 _Charles._ Erik's voice sounded hazier than it had through Cerebro, and Charles knew that wasn't a good sign. _Finally._

Charles looked around as he entered the building, Hank right behind him. _Erik, where are you?_

“In here,” came Erik's voice from somewhere in the back right side of the building, so they headed in that direction.

They came around a corner after a few moments and they found Erik half-sitting up against a wall. His shirt was gone, exposing the angry blue-black bruises on his torso, but as Charles looked at his left leg and left arm, he could tell that the shirt had been torn into strips which Erik had used as temporary bandages. He was horrified to realize they both were stained dark red with blood. Erik had a large gash along his cheek, dried blood tracks down his face, and Charles couldn't help but think that Erik hadn't told him how badly injured he really was.

“Hi,” Erik said, almost lazily. “You finally got the message. I've been here for almost two weeks.”

“I'm so sorry,” Charles said automatically. “I got so busy with the school that I forgot about the delivery until earlier today.”

“It's alright, Charles. You're here now,” Erik said, a painful smile crossing his face. “Beast. Nice to see you.”

“You didn't tell me he was injured, Charles. We should have brought the doctor with us,” Hank said, shaking his head.

“He didn't tell me he was this badly injured,” Charles said, reaching for the bag in his lap. “I brought some basic medical supplies. Hopefully we can at least get him cleaned up a bit before we get on the plane.”

Hank took the bag from Charles and got down on his knees next to Erik. Erik didn't say anything as Hank took different items out of the bag and started to look at Erik's various wounds. Charles watched helplessly as Erik hissed and moaned as sensitive spots and broken skin were attended to. _Tell me you're alright,_ he asked Erik after awhile.

 _Better now that you're here,_ Erik responded, right before Hank started unwrapping the makeshift bandage on his leg.

Hank took one look at it before turning to Charles. “He needs a hospital.”

“Hospital's not an option,” Charles said, looking over at Erik. “You know that they'll know who he is immediately.”

“I'm not sure that the school doctor is equipped to deal with fractures like this, Charles,” Hank said seriously. “I'd be shocked if he didn't need surgery on his leg.”

Charles looked straight into Erik's eyes and saw the pain and concern radiating in them. “Whatever has to be done has to be done at the mansion. If Dr. McIntyre can't do it, then we'll bring in someone who can. Someone whose memory I can wipe once the procedure is done. I can't do that to a whole hospital.”

Hank just nodded and redid the makeshift bandage. He then pulled the shirt out of the bag, handing it to Erik. “Can you manage to get this on yourself or do I have to help?”

Erik stared at the shirt for a moment before sighing. “Help please.”

Hank took a deep breath and then took the shirt, working it over Erik's head and then carefully putting his arms through the sleeves before pulling it down over his torso. Hank stared into the bag for a moment before deciding to forgo the pants Charles had brought. “Erik, can you walk?”

“No,” Erik said, shaking his head. “I've been shifting around on the floor in here to get by. I'm too weak anyway. I'd probably collapse if I tried to stand up. Too much blood loss and not enough food.”

“When is the last time you ate something?” Charles asked. 

“About three days ago,” Erik said. “I ran out of water two days before that.”

Charles sucked in a deep breath and thought about how long that package had sat on his desk, untouched.

 _Don't blame yourself for this,_ came Erik's voice. _This is most definitely not your fault._

“I have no idea how we're going to get him out of here,” Hank said, turning to Charles. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Get him into my lap,” Charles said after a moment. “You can wheel the chair out of here. I'll keep a hold of him.”

Hank stared at Charles for a moment before deciding that that really was the only option and turning to Erik. “Alright, Erik, I'm going to lift you now. I'm sorry if this hurts.”

“Don't worry about it,” Erik said, groaning as Hank slid his arms underneath his knees and behind his back, then slowly stood up with him. “Holy fuck.”

Hank carried him over to Charles and carefully set Erik down on Charles's lap, and Charles's arms immediately went around Erik's waist, holding him as close as he dared. Hank moved back to where the bag was and Charles rested his forehead against Erik's shoulder for a moment, his eyes closed. _You're staying in my room at the mansion. I need to keep an eye on you._

Erik let out a small laugh that was disguised as a groan of pain. _I'll never object to sleeping in your bed, Charles._

Hank came back to them with the repacked bag, and he walked behind the wheelchair, taking control of it. “Alright, Charles, do you have a good hold on him?”

“Yes,” Charles said. _And it's going to be a long time before I let you go._

 _Not that long,_ Erik answered. _I'm not ready to come home for good yet._

Charles sighed as Hank began to move them. _Of course you're not. You could have died, Erik._

 _But I didn't_ , Erik stressed. _I just need to lay low for a few days. I'll be fine after that._

Charles just shook his head. _We'll see about that._


	2. day two.

Erik woke up to find a crisp white ceiling above him, and he struggled for a moment to remember where he was. Then he felt a hand slip into his and he turned his head to see Charles sitting there, watching him. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Charles said, squeezing Erik's hand. “The surgery went well. I'd have the surgeon speak with you, but Dr. McIntyre said that he could handle it from here, so I wiped the surgeon's memory and sent him on his way.”

Erik nodded, bringing up his free hand to run along the stitches in his cheek. “Am I all cleaned up now?”

“Yes,” Charles said, moving his hand up from Erik's hand to run along the stitches in his upper arm. “You're lucky this arm wasn't broken.”

“I'm lucky a lot more of me wasn't broken,” Erik murmured, taking a deep breath. “Okay, breathing still hurts like fuck.”

“Three broken ribs,” Charles said. “Just cracked, not fully broken. Should heal quicker than if they were fully broken.”

“Good,” Erik mumbled, lifting his head and looking down at his leg. “Cast?”

Charles nodded. “To stabilize the bones. You may sense some metal as well. The surgeon put in a few screws to hold things in place so they'd heal correctly.”

Erik concentrated on his leg and felt a weak magnetic pull. “I can feel them.”

“I thought you might,” Charles said seriously. “Now will you please tell me what the fuck happened to you?”

Erik let his head sink back on his pillow. “Mystique probably knows more about what happened than I do. We had agreed to rendezvous in that abandoned factory to discuss the newest information on the mutant monitoring program. But not long after she got there, this group showed up. Their leader was obviously a mutant of some sort, except instead of having a power that we could fight against, his power seemed to be making us not be able to use our powers. There was plenty of metal in that abandoned factory that I could have defended myself with, but I couldn't move any of it. 

“Mystique couldn't shape shift. Of course, she knows how to fight physically better than I do. She kicked some ass, and I got the shit beat out of me by someone brandishing a gigantic tree branch. Next thing I remember is me asking for you, and she took the helmet and said she'd get in touch with you, and then she left. I don't know what happened to the group or who they were or why they were there. And then I've just been sitting there waiting for you. Tried my best to stop the bleeding. Slept on and off. Rationed out what little food and water I had. Prayed you'd find me before I died. And then you did.”

Charles took all of that in, mentally cursing Raven for leaving Erik all alone in that condition. “And mentally? You said you were mentally wounded, Erik.”

“I'm not ready for that,” Erik whispered, looking over at Charles. “Please give me some time on that.”

“Alright,” Charles murmured. “But I'm more worried about that than I am your physical injuries.”

“I know,” Erik said softly. “And I will tell you. But only you, and in a place where no one else can find us or hear us. I want you to be the only one to know.”

Charles nodded. “I'll make sure we have some soundproofed privacy at some point. I meant what I said about you sleeping in my room. I'm not taking no for an answer, and I don't care what anyone else thinks about it. Hopefully you'll get to be moved up there sometime today. Sleeping in my wheelchair down here was not exactly comfortable.”

Erik shook his head. “You should have gone to bed upstairs, Charles.”

“And leave you here like this? Never,” Charles said, his eyes shining with the love he dare not say. “There is someone else who knows that you're here and would like to see you. I've had him kept away until you said you were ready to see him though, just as you asked.”

Erik nodded. “I'd like to see Peter now, if you don't mind.”

“Not at all,” Charles said, closing his eyes. _Hank, if you would escort Peter down here please. Thank you._

A few minutes later, they heard the elevator doors open and then suddenly Peter was at Erik's bedside, a gigantic Get Well Soon balloon tied to his hand. “Dad!”

Erik felt his throat tighten. “Can we stick with Erik for a little while longer?”

Peter's eyes lost some of their vibrancy. “Fine. Erik. I brought you a balloon!”

“I see that,” Erik said, and suddenly the balloon was tied to the side of Erik's bed. “Where did you get it?”

“Stole it from a store,” Peter said, glancing over at Charles when Charles sighed. “What? I had to get him something and I didn't have much time to do it in. I mean, Hank only told me that Erik was injured like an hour ago.”

“I told him that five minutes ago,” Hank said, and Charles looked behind him to find Hank standing in the doorway.

“How much of this conversation have you heard?” Charles asked.

“Enough to understand why Peter is attached to Magneto,” Hank said, shaking his head. “I don't even want to know, so don't bother explaining it to me. I'm going back upstairs to teach my class. Peter, are you coming? You're in this next class.”

Peter looked over at Charles and gave him a pleading look. Charles sighed and turned back to Hank. “I think we can all understand that Peter needs to skip this particular class, Hank, don't you? He'll get his notes from someone else...”

“From Christopher,” Peter said quickly. “He'll give me his notes.”

“He'll get his notes from Christopher,” Charles said, smiling at Peter. “So I think we'll let him miss this one class, Hank.”

Hank just shook his head and started walking away. Charles caught part of his thoughts though. _...his dad? Erik is his dad? Fuck, we're going to have another psychopath roaming the halls, aren't we? Why did Charles let him become a student here if he knew that Peter was Erik's kid? God, wait till I tell Alex about this._

“I'm going to need to have a talk with Hank and Alex,” Charles said, shaking his head. “They are still not happy about the fact that you are welcome here. Discovering Peter's parentage has not helped.”

Erik groaned. “Can't you just tell them to fuck off?”

“Sometimes, Erik, I do think that might be the easiest way to get my point across, but I actually value Hank and Alex and their contributions around here, so I refrain from doing so.”

“I'll make sure it's okay,” Peter said, suddenly sitting down in a chair that seemed to materialize out of thin air. “I'll basically corner the two of them and tell them to stop talking shit about my father or else I'm going to break everything in Hank's lab and Alex's gym.”

“Peter, I don't think that will be necessary,” Charles started, but Erik laughed.

“I like that idea, Peter,” he murmured. “I say go with that.”

Peter looked over at Charles and shrugged. “Sorry, Professor, but listening to my father on this one.”

Charles just shook his head. “Fine, but only threaten them. Don't actually break everything in Alex's gym or in Hank's lab. Especially not Hank's lab. Lord only knows what in there could blow a hole in the floor or half the mansion away or something like that.”

Peter laughed. “I don't think he's actually building bombs in his spare time, Professor. Though, that would be really cool if he was.”

“No, it wouldn't,” Charles said firmly.

Erik just laughed, despite how much it hurt. “Oh, Peter, you are so much like your mother. You're making me miss her.”

Peter looked really interested at that. “I'm like Magda? Really?”

“She was a troublemaker,” Erik said, smiling. “It's what attracted me to her, to be perfectly honest.”

“I'm not a troublemaker,” Peter said, which made Charles laugh. 

“Oh yes you are,” Charles said. “But I would have said that was a trait picked up from your father.”

Erik looked over at him. “I am not a troublemaker.”

“Yes you are,” Charles said, patting him on the hand. “It's easier if you just accept it, Erik. Accept it and move on.”

Erik smiled. “Well, I suppose it is a family trait. My father was a troublemaker too. I have memories of Mama yelling at him about all kinds of things.”

Peter reached out and tangled his hand with Erik's. “Do you mind me doing this? Because like, from what Hank said, you were in pretty bad shape when you got here, and I...I didn't want to lose my father before I even really got to know him, because I know that all the shit that Hank and Alex tell me about you isn't everything. There's obviously a good side of you too. The one that you let Charles see.”

Erik squeezed Peter's fingers. “Relax, Peter. I'm not going to die. And I'm glad you think there is more to me than what Hank and Alex say. Maybe Charles can fill you in on my good side. As far as I'm concerned, my feelings towards him are my only redeeming quality.”

“We'll talk later, Peter,” Charles said, looking behind him when he heard footsteps. “Dr. McIntyre is on his way in. He'll want to examine you, Erik, and then probably sedate you again.”

“But we can stay, right?” Peter asked quickly. “Like, I don't want to go away. I want to stay here with Erik.”

Charles smiled at Peter's concern. “We will stay here, though we will probably have to move while Dr. McIntyre examines him. Then we will watch over him as he sleeps, and we'll have a conversation about your kleptomania.”

Peter sighed. “Again?”

“You said you stole that balloon,” Charles said as Dr. McIntyre walked into the room. “Come on, let's get out of the way so Erik can be examined.”

Peter squeezed Erik's hand before letting go and suddenly appearing on the other side of the room. Charles made his way over to him, and when he was close enough, he reached up and squeezed Peter's hand. 

“I think it is good that you are here,” Charles said softly so Erik wouldn't be able to hear him. “I think your father needs you now more than ever.”

Peter smiled down at him. “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Cool. Thanks for getting me out of Hank's boring as hell science lesson by the way. I would have totally fallen asleep like twenty times and spent the rest of the time running around the mansion because I was bored to death.”

Charles just shook his head. “Peter, we're also going to need to talk about the importance of your classes. You are going to need to know how to do these things once you graduate and move on to university or to a job.”

Peter just shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. Besides, I sort of already know half the stuff you're teaching me. So I get kind of bored.”

“Hm,” Charles hummed. “Perhaps we need to put you into more advanced classes then.”

“There are no more advanced classes,” Peter pointed out.

“Then perhaps we need to create some,” Charles said, looking over at Erik and Dr. McIntyre. “Oh, and Peter?”

“What?”

“Nice balloon,” Charles said, grinning. “Even if it is stolen.”


	3. day three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> um, warning for a lot of angst. and possible crying. there was a lot of crying while writing this.

Charles woke up to find Erik staring back at him, and he let a soft smile cross his face. “Good morning.”

“I don't think it's morning,” Erik said softly. “I think it's still the middle of the night.”

Charles shifted around and glanced at his bedside clock then turned back to Erik. “4:14am. So, yes, middle of the night, but also morning. So I say again. Good morning.”

Erik just rolled his eyes. “Good morning Charles.”

“How are you feeling?” Charles asked, reaching out and sliding his hand along the back of Erik's neck. 

Erik relaxed into the touch and sighed. “I feel better in your bed than I did on that gurney downstairs. And you never told me you had a whole medical unit down there, Charles. I felt like I _was_ in a hospital.”

“I didn't want to have to potentially frighten the nearest hospital with a green child with a tail needing some sort of medical treatment, though to be honest I would have been more afraid for the child in that scenario than for anyone working at the hospital,” Charles said, running his fingers up and down the back of Erik's neck. “Dr. McIntyre is an old friend who I am paying handsomely to work here instead of at the fancy New York City hospital I hired him away from. Hank asked him what he needed and took care of the rest.”

“I should have known you'd think of everything,” Erik said. “Please tell me Peter hasn't needed his services.”

“No, he hasn't,” Charles said, sliding closer to Erik and bringing their lips together in a kiss. “This isn't the way I wanted you here, but I'm glad you're here.”

“This isn't the way I was planning on coming here either,” Erik said, chasing Charles into another kiss. “I was going to come next month, provided everything went well. It obviously didn't.”

“I'm still angry with Raven for just leaving you there like that.”

“That wasn't what I was talking about,” Erik murmured. “And I told her to leave me there. She wasn't going to get far with me in the state I was in.”

Charles shifted, looking more closely at Erik. “What were you talking about?”

“I'm not ready,” Erik whispered. “I'm just not ready, Charles.”

Charles sighed. “Erik, if I wait until you're ready, I'm never going to hear about this. You have never told me you were wounded more mentally than physically before. Not even when you told me about Shaw. I'm worried. Very worried.”

Erik took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and Charles leaned forward and kissed him again. “Nothing you say will change the way I feel about you, Erik. Absolutely nothing.”

Erik took another deep breath and opened his eyes, and Charles took note of the pain in them. “I was recruiting for the Brotherhood. I'd been told by a contact to search out a particular mutant, having been told that our thoughts and sympathies were of the same vein. I made contact with this particular mutant, and I'm not telling you anything more about this mutant. But the first words out of their mouth was 'Where's your cripple?'”

Charles closed his eyes as what Erik was saying sank in. “Erik.”

“Let me finish,” Erik got out. “'Where's your cripple?' they said. I said I didn't know what they were talking about, and they called me a liar. 'I was at the White House that day,' they said. 'Was gonna do some damage before you did it all for me. But you had a friend there, crippled guy. Where's he at, or is he too chicken shit to fight for us?' I should have left then, but I didn't. I told them that they had no idea about what you did for mutants. They laughed. 'Yeah, 'cause they can do a lot from a fucking wheelchair? How'd they end up crippled anyway? You crash your car while he was blowing you, sever his spine? He looked like he had a mouth born to suck your cock.' I should have left then, but I didn't. 

“We were in an alley. There was a metal fence behind them. I started manipulating it. They didn't notice; they were too busy laughing at me. Rage took over. I threaded that metal all through their body. Didn't stop until they were a part of the metal fence. By the time I was done, they were dead. I went and spit in their face anyway. Then I stole a car, drove to Texas, and hid in that factory. I was by myself for a month, at least, before Mystique came walking in. I lied to you about us agreeing to rendezvous there. She just found me on her own. I was a mess, Charles, and somehow she knew exactly why I was. Apparently word got around that I'd murdered the mutant. She asked me why I did it, and I told her it was because they'd insulted you. 

“She said she didn't realize I still cared so much. I told her to never underestimate how much I cared about you. She said she'd tracked me down because she had info on the mutant monitoring program. We never got around to exchanging it, because the door to the factory slammed open and in came that mutant and his goons. When she saw how injured I was, she asked me what I wanted her to do, and I told her to alert you. And then you know what happened after that.”

By the time Erik was done, there were tears streaming down both of their faces. “I'm sorry, Charles. I'm so sorry. I know I shouldn't have done it, but the way they were talking about you, and when they implied that we...you know how terrified I am of the thought of someone finding out about us. The anger just took over and I couldn't stop myself.”

“Shh,” Charles murmured. Erik shifted closer to Charles and buried his face in his neck, letting the tears really flow. Charles pulled him closer and wrapped him up in his arms. “It's okay, Erik. It's okay. You're here with me now, and no one knows about us. It's all okay.”

Charles just held Erik while he cried, careful of his bruises. It was a long time before Erik pulled back, and then Charles kissed him with as much love as he could muster. Erik kissed him back just as hard, and when they finally broke apart, Charles reached up and wiped the tears from Erik's face. 

“Listen to me, Erik, because this is very important. If I had been there instead of you, and you had been the one in the wheelchair, and I had to listen to someone talk that way about you, I probably would have killed them too. No, I know I would have killed them too. I don't know how I would have done it, but I would have. I don't blame you for reacting to the rage, Erik. I would have done the same thing.”

“Charles,” Erik said, his voice hoarse from crying so much, “I never knew I would react like that to someone talking about you, about us. I knew it would be bad, but I never thought that I'd...I killed a mutant, Charles. Not Shaw, not a motherfucking murderous Nazi, but a fellow mutant just because I couldn't handle what they said about you. I murdered them in cold blood.”

“And I would have done the same,” Charles said again, making sure Erik realized what he was saying. “I would have done the same.”

Erik laughed slightly. “Charles, you're horrible with violence.”

“I know,” Charles said, reaching out to wipe away a stray tear from Erik's cheek. “But I would have done the same. I probably wouldn't have been as creative as you were, making them part of a metal fence, but I would have found a way. You told me once that we are bonded together by a beautiful pain, Erik. We're bonded together by a hell of a lot more than that. And if there was ever going to be a situation in which I felt it necessary to take the life of another person, another mutant, well, it would have been that.”

“So you don't hate me for giving in to the rage when you were the one who taught me that I didn't need to?” Erik's voice was small and worried.

“I don't hate you, Erik. I think we decided a long time ago that hating each other isn't something we're capable of,” Charles murmured, running his thumb over Erik's lips. “There are times, Erik, when we have to give in to overwhelming emotions, no matter what they are. I don't blame you for giving in to the rage. I wanted to murder that mutant just listening to you tell the story.”

“I don't want anyone else to know. I didn't want Mystique to know, but I didn't know what else to tell her.”

“No one else is going to know,” Charles said firmly. “No one can hear us in here. I'm certainly not going to say anything to anyone. And if news of this mutant's death and your likely part in it reaches here, I'm going to pretend I know nothing of it.”

“Charles?”

“What?”

“I want to say it,” Erik murmured. “I want to say it so badly and yet I can't bring myself to. I feel like I don't deserve to give voice to those three words yet. Not until I come home for good.”

Charles curled his hand around the back of Erik's neck and pulled him into another kiss. “You don't need to. I already know. And you know I feel the same. Like I said, nothing you could have told me this morning was going to change that.”

“I feel better, having told you,” Erik mumbled as Charles pulled him closer. “I knew I would, I just, I didn't know how you'd react. I know how you feel about violence.”

“Yes, well, even I know that sometimes violence is necessary,” Charles said, settling Erik along his side, smiling when he put his head on Charles's chest. “I'm sorry you had to go through that. Through all of this. I feel as though I should have protected you somehow.”

“You can't protect me when I'm out in the world, Charles,” Erik said. “And we already know how horrific I am at protecting you, because I'm the one who put you in that wheelchair.”

Charles swallowed hard. “Don't bring that up. It's in the past. It means nothing now.”

“It means everything,” Erik whispered. “I will never go a day without thinking about it.”

Charles leaned forward and kissed the top of Erik's head. “I feel as though I already know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask anyway. Do you want me to wipe the memory from your mind?”

Erik was silent for a few minutes. “No. It's tempting, it's very tempting, but no.”

“As I thought,” Charles said, running his hand down Erik's arm. “Do you think you can sleep now? Because I don't believe you've slept at all tonight.”

“You're right about that,” Erik murmured. “But I just needed to watch you for awhile. Just in case I never got the chance to do it again.”

Charles sighed. “You will have all the time in the world to watch me sleep someday.”

“I know,” Erik said, letting his eyes slip closed. “I'm looking forward to it.”

“Me too,” Charles whispered, closing his eyes. “Me too.”


	4. day four.

Erik looked over at the door to Charles's room when there was a knock on it, unsure of what to do. When he didn't answer, the door opened slowly, and Peter stuck his head inside. 

“Erik? Are you awake? Professor said I can only come in if you're awake.”

Erik smiled. “Hello Peter.”

Peter smiled back, opening the door fully and walking into the room. He closed the door behind him and then was suddenly standing next to the bed, looking down at Erik. “How are you?”

“Better than I was the other day,” Erik said. “Sit down.”

Peter looked around the room and frowned. “Be right back.”

Erik blinked and Peter was gone, and then almost as quickly, he reappeared next to the bed, sitting in a chair. “I'm still not used to how fast you move.”

“It takes some getting used to,” Peter said, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a tattered copy of _The Catcher In The Rye_.

“Why didn't you just sit on the bed?”

Peter looked up at him and gave Erik a look. “I'm not an idiot. I know what you and the Professor do in that bed. No way am I sitting on it.”

Erik laughed. “You really are so much like Magda.”

“You said I have her eyes, right?”

“Yes,” Erik said, smiling. “One of my favorite things about her was her eyes. I should have noticed that after you broke me out, but I was too surprised by the fact that I was being broken out to really register what you looked like.”

“She liked your accent,” Peter said, turning a page in the book. “At least, that's what Marya told me.”

“Yes, she did. It's changed some since I was with her though. Less German now, more English sounding.”

“Did you ever tell her about what happened to you in the concentration camp?” Peter asked, his voice quiet but interested.

“No,” Erik said, shaking his head. “I didn't want her to know. I wanted to leave all that behind and never deal with it again.”

“What about your obsession with the bad guy, whatever his name was?”

“Klaus Schmidt. And I didn't really have it when I first met her,” Erik said, shifting around into a more comfortable position. “There was no doubt in my mind that if I did know where he was, I would go and I would kill him, but I thought I'd never see him or hear about him again.”

“And then you did.”

“And then I did,” Erik said, taking a deep breath. “I tried to pretend I didn't know where he was for about a week. I wasn't Erik anymore, I was Magnus, and I had a wife, and we were happy. But it just sat there in my mind, and I eventually decided I couldn't let it lie. So I left, fully intending to come back. And it just didn't work out that way.”

“So Erik's your real name?” Peter asked.

“Yes.”

“Why did you go back to Erik?”

“Didn't plan on it,” Erik said. “But when Charles and I met, he got my name out of my head. He knew I was Erik before I even registered that he was there. After that, I couldn't exactly tell him that I was Magnus. Or Max. Max was another alias.”

“So my last name really is Lehnsherr.”

“Yes. But I'd stick with Maximoff. I don't want you to broadcast your association with me.” 

Peter sighed. “You really don't want to be my father, do you?”

“I do,” Erik said, his voice filled with sincerity. “I really do, Peter. And part of that is wanting to keep you safe. Being Peter Maximoff will make you much, much safer than if you were Peter Lehnsherr.”

Peter crinkled up his nose. “Peter Maximoff sounds better anyway.”

Erik laughed. “And it sounds better.”

“Quicksilver sounds even better,” Peter said, grinning. “The Professor liked it.”

“Good,” Erik said, smiling. “I knew he would.”

Peter turned another page. “You really love him, don't you?”

“Charles is...” Erik trailed off. “He sees good in me when I think there is none. In fact, I'm almost certain that he is the good in me.”

“He always tells me that you're a good man at heart, you just don't realize it.”

“I'm Frankenstein's monster,” Erik said, sighing. “I am what Klaus Schmidt made me. And even though I have gotten my revenge, it doesn't change who I am.”

“But yet you were also Magnus Eisenhart,” Peter said, turning another page. “Marya is shocked that you are Magnus, by the way. She always told me Magnus was a wonderful man and wonderful husband to Magda until he, well, you disappeared.”

“I tried,” Erik murmured. “Magda was a wonderful woman. She settled me down when I didn't think it was going to be possible to do so. And I loved her, as much as I was capable of loving someone at that time, which wasn't as much as she deserved, to be honest. She always deserved better than me. I told her that a lot.” 

“But she loved you.”

“She did. She told me that every time I told her she deserved better. I think she thought it would make me feel better.”

Peter turned another page, and that's when Erik realized that the book was upside down. “I think the Professor is right about you. I think you are a good man at heart. I mean, I realize that I don't know Magda at all, she died when I was four months old, but if she loved you, then I think you have to be a good man. Even if you don't think so.”

The door opened then, and Charles wheeled himself into the room. “Peter, you're supposed to be in your history class right now.”

“I know,” Peter said, closing the book and looking behind him. “But I wanted to see Erik, and all Professor Collins is talking about is the Revolutionary War, and like, I learned about that when I was seven.”

Charles sighed. “I know you're bored in your classes, Peter, but we talked about your attendance. We have talked about your attendance many, many times.”

“I'm sorry, Professor, but they're so boring, and my father is here, and I just want to get to know him. Is that really such a bad thing? I mean, I haven't seen him in five months.”

Charles wheeled himself next to Peter's chair, looking at Erik. “I know, Peter. And I want you to get to know Erik. But your classes are important.”

“How about this, Peter,” Erik said, looking at Charles. “How about you eat dinner with me and Charles while I'm here? That way you can see me, and you can attend your classes.” 

Charles nodded. “That would be fine with me.”

Peter stared at Erik for a minute before nodding. “Fine. I'll go sit through the boring class and I'll see you at dinner.”

And then he was gone.

Charles maneuvered his wheelchair closer to the bed and then worked his way on to it, sliding around until he was lying next to Erik. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” Erik murmured, reaching out and pulling Charles into a kiss. “Shouldn't you be teaching classes?”

“Over for the day,” Charles said, kissing Erik again. “Usually I stay in my office and grade things, but I'd rather be in here with you. It's Friday. I can grade over the weekend.”

“Peter will probably want to spend a lot of time with me over the weekend.”

“I know,” Charles said, caressing the side of Erik's face. “I don't mind. I get you alone at night.”

“Hank and Alex are thrilled about the fact that I'm staying in your room,” Erik laughed. “Whenever one of them brings me my lunch, they always make some comment about how I shouldn't be in here.”

Charles just shook his head. “Hank and Alex are never going to be thrilled that you're here, and they are never going to understand why we are so attached to each other after everything we've been through. Hank spent half an hour on the flight back here trying to talk me out of bringing you to the mansion, and he and Alex ganged up on me as soon as I said that I was sleeping downstairs with you that night, and they ganged up on me again as soon as I told them that you were going to be staying in here.”

“I know they do a lot for the school, and I know they have to be here to keep them safe with this fucking Pentagon program,” Erik murmured, “but I really wish you'd tell them to fuck off already.”

Charles laughed. “I did. Hank and Alex both tried telling me I was being unreasonable when I came to you, and when Alex tried to suggest that we should have left you in that factory, I sort of exploded in anger.”

“I would have liked to see that.”

Charles smiled. “I know, but you were in with the doctors and that was more important.”

Erik shifted around until he was laying on his back, groaning. “It'll be nice once I feel like a normal person again. I don't like feeling off balance like this.”

Charles rested his head on Erik's shoulder. “I know what you mean. It took me some time to adjust to feeling like this when it first happened. Off balance is a good way to describe it. So what did you and Peter talk about?”

“Magda. And me. He had a lot of questions.”

“He's been wanting the answers to some of those questions for a very long time.”

“I know. That's why I answered them. You know I hate talking about that period of my life.”

Charles trailed a hand along Erik's chest. “You're a good father, Erik.”

“I've barely been a father, Charles. I've spent less than three weeks being a father.”

“But that doesn't mean you haven't been a good father for those three weeks,” Charles pointed out. “Peter is very fond of you. He talks about you all the time during our private sessions.”

“You have private sessions with Peter?”

“Yes, every Saturday at four. I'm trying to teach him how not to project his thoughts. When he first got here, I could hear everything he was thinking all of the time. Now, it's only about half the time that I get Peter's train of thought in my head. I have private sessions with a lot of the students on the weekends, so don't think it's something special only for him.”

Erik caught Charles's hand in his own, bringing it up to kiss. “I suspect there's a lot of people here who need someone to talk to.”

“Yes, there are,” Charles murmured. “And I try to help them as best I can.”

“I'm sure you do wonderfully,” Erik said, yawning.

“You should get some sleep,” Charles said. “I know you're not sleeping well at night.”

“Charles.”

“Erik, you may have told me what happened, but that doesn't mean you've dealt with it yet. You're still staying up most of the night watching me, and if you think I don't know that then you must think I am stupid.”

Erik sighed. “You're the most intelligent person I've ever met, Charles. I could never think that you're stupid.”

“Then close your eyes and get some sleep.”

“Fine,” Erik said. “But only if you sleep with me.”

“Wouldn't dream of going anywhere else. Lock the door, will you?”

The lock on the door suddenly slid into place, and then Erik closed his eyes. “Charles?”

“What?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Finding me,” Erik whispered.

“I still feel guilty about letting that delivery sit on my desk for so long.”

“I don't mean in Texas,” Erik mumbled. “I mean in the water that night.”

Charles grinned and closed his eyes as well. “Finding you that night is the best thing I've ever done.”

“It's certainly the best thing that's ever happened to me.”

“It's the best thing that's ever happened to me too. Now sleep.”

Erik yawned again. “Okay.”


	5. day five.

Charles was grading papers in his study when he suddenly felt a presence in his mind that hadn't been there for a very long time. He pondered it for a few minutes, then wheeled himself out of his study and to the elevator, going up to the level where the room he was searching for was. He exited the elevator and rolled down the hall, coming to a stop outside the door. 

She was standing in the middle of the room, surveying her surroundings, when he finally decided to go inside.

“I didn't change a thing,” Charles said, watching as she spun around. “I left it exactly the way you left it.”

“I can see that,” she said, slowly changing back to her natural blue form. “Hello Charles.”

“Hello Raven,” Charles said, smiling at her. “It's good to see you.”

Raven didn't answer his smile with one of her own. “Did you get my message?”

“Yes,” Charles said, moving closer. “Erik is resting comfortably in my room.”

“In your room?”

“Yes,” Charles said defensively. “He needs someone to look after him. You clearly didn't do that.”

Raven sighed. “I did what he asked me to do. Nothing less.”

“Well, you did nothing more than that either,” Charles said, anger creeping into his voice. “Do you even realize that he could have died in that factory?”

“Do you even realize that I had to go track down that mutant and those other guys to keep them from coming back and finishing him off?” Raven said bitterly. “They weren't very forthcoming with information until they were moments from death.”

Charles felt his whole body stiffen. “Did you kill them?”

“No,” Raven said after a minute. “But I should have. I should have killed them the moment they told me who they were.”

“Who were they?”

Raven just shook her head. “That's between me and Erik.”

“Raven, I'm involved in this now. Can you not tell me as well?”

“I'm telling Erik. If he wants to tell you, then he can tell you,” Raven said, shifting back into the form that was most familiar to Charles. “I need to speak to him.”

“I'm afraid you can't do that at the moment,” Charles said. “Peter is in there with Erik, and he won't take to kindly to having his alone time with Erik interrupted.”

“Who the hell is Peter?”

“Peter is a student here.”

“You're letting one of your students have alone time with Erik in your room?” Raven laughed. “Well, Charles, you've certainly changed.”

“Erik and Peter have a special bond that Erik can tell you about if he likes,” Charles said. “I will not tell you unless he asks me to.”

Raven sighed and sat down on the bed, shaking her head. “I only came here to check on him.”

“I figured as much,” Charles said softly. “That doesn't mean it's not good to see you.”

“Is he going to be alright?”

“Yes,” Charles murmured. “He will be. He needs time to recuperate, however, and I'm afraid that he won't take it.”

“He probably won't,” Raven said, looking over at Charles. “You mind if I stay here tonight? Westchester is a little out of the way for my usual overnights.”

“You are always welcome to stay here, Raven,” Charles said truthfully. “This will always be your home, your room.”

“This is not my home, Charles, not anymore,” Raven said firmly. “I'm only staying here out of necessity.”

“I know,” Charles said, turning his wheelchair around. “I will be in my study. Peter will be joining me there at four, if you would like to use that time to speak with Erik.”

“Thank you.”

Charles continued out to the hallway, glancing back into the room for a moment before heading towards the elevator. Once inside, he took it all the way down to the basement level, exiting it and heading for the Danger Room. “Hank?”

“In here Charles!” came Hank's voice from a small side chamber.

Charles wheeled over there and found Hank half inside the large computer that was going to run the Danger Room simulations. “Hank, we have another guest. For how long, I'm not sure, but I thought you should know that we do.”

“And who is it this time?” Hank asked, sitting up with a handful of wires sticking out of his pocket.

“Raven,” Charles said simply, and he saw the look that flashed across Hank's face. If the ghost of Erik Lehnsherr crossed his face, as he had heard Hank and Alex think many times before he'd taken that serum for the first time, then it was the ghost of Raven Darkholme that went across Hank's. 

“What is Mystique doing here?” The composed tone of voice that Hank went for abandoned him halfway through her name. 

“She's here to check on Erik,” Charles said. “Hopefully we can get some information from her while she's here. Or at least hopefully I can get the information from Erik after she's told him.”

“And why would Magneto tell you anything if Mystique won't tell you?”

“Because he will,” Charles said, looking Hank up and down. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Hank said, a little too quickly. “I think it's just a cold. Nothing to worry about.”

Charles knew full well that it wasn't a cold, but the thought of seeing Raven again. “Well, be sure to see Dr. McIntyre if it gets any worse. I don't think any of the other teachers would be capable of covering your science lessons.”

Hank smiled at that. “Probably not. And I will.”

“Don't forget to eat dinner,” Charles said. 

“I won't,” Hank said, leaning back into the computer. “Thanks for the warning, Charles.”

“You're welcome, Hank,” Charles said, heading back to the elevator. 

Once the doors were shut, he noticed there was a very public disagreement occurring in the living room, so he headed to the main level. He left the elevator and made his way to the room, Alex and Raven's voices echoing throughout the entire floor.

“...you even realize how much he cared about you?” Alex was screaming. “It tore him apart when you left!”

“Charles is a grown man,” Raven yelled back. “He can handle himself!”

“You think I'm talking about Charles?” Alex laughed. “You really don't get it, do you?”

“Who else would you be talking about?” Raven asked, confusion in her voice, as Charles wheeled himself into the room.

“Alex, Raven, may I please ask that you lower your voices and take this to a place where half the school cannot hear you?”

Alex looked straight at Charles. “You know what, I thought you were crazy with Erik, but letting her back in here? That's worse.”

Before Charles could respond, Alex turned and walked away. Raven spun around and looked at Charles. 

“What the fuck was he talking about?”

“Watch your language in front of the children, please,” Charles said, keeping his voice calm. “And if you cannot figure that one out on your own, perhaps Alex is right. You don't get it.”

Charles turned himself around and made his way to his study, finding it blissfully empty. He closed the door and sat there for a moment, his head spinning from all of the activity of the past half hour. 

_What was all the yelling downstairs?_ came into his mind, and he smiled.

_Raven has arrived to check on you,_ Charles replied. _Alex has not taken her presence well, and neither has Hank and Hank hasn't even seen her yet._

_Oh, I see,_ came Erik's voice. _Do you want me to send Peter down early so I can get the meeting with Mystique over with and she can leave?_

Charles let his eyes slip closed as Erik's voice soothed his racing mind. _No, she's already asked if she can stay the night. Besides, you need that time with Peter. How's it going?_

_Good,_ came Erik's voice. _He's been peppering me with questions about Germany and my parents and wanting to know if I'll teach him how to curse in German, because that's the only part of a different language you need to know._

_And you haven't done that, have you?_

Erik's laugh echoed through his head. _Of course I have. German and French._

Charles let a smile cross his face. _So long as he doesn't go around here teaching everyone else how to say fuck in three different languages, I suppose I have no problem with it._

_I'll tell him to keep it to himself,_ Erik said. _When do I get to see you again?_

Charles opened his eyes and glanced over at the clock. _Not until dinner._

_Too long._

Charles laughed. _You'll have me all night, you know?_

_Yes, but I can't fuck you and that's a problem._ Erik's voice was very frustrated.

Charles took a deep breath. _We'll figure something out, I promise._

_I'm desperate for you, Charles. We've got to._

_We will, Erik. I have to go now. Session with a student in five minutes._

_Alright. I'll be sure to send Peter down at four._

_Thank you,_ Charles thought. He took a deep breath and moved back behind his desk, staring at his stack of ungraded papers until he took one off the top and started reading through it. Might as well get something accomplished before his next appointment.


	6. day six.

Charles wheeled himself into the kitchen, happy not for the first time that he'd decided to get a much larger, industrial kitchen put in and staffed for feeding the children. There was no one inside this kitchen, and that meant Charles could breathe for a few minutes. His first thought was to get himself a drink, but he stopped and thought about it before getting orange juice out of the refrigerator. 

“You drink juice at breakfast, Charles,” he mumbled to himself. “Not vodka.”

He had managed to convince Hank that it was alright to place some glasses in a cabinet at a level where Charles could get one without needing to ask someone, and he retrieved one from there and made his way to the table with the orange juice. He poured himself a glass and reached for the newspaper that was laying there, and upon realizing it was that day's paper, he discovered someone else was already awake. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, and then sighed heavily.

Hank was already downstairs, deep into work on the Danger Room, and Charles had half a mind to go down there and ask if Hank had ever gone to bed. He didn't, however, just reached for his orange juice and took a big sip. He held the newspaper up and began to read the top story, and that's how Alex found him a few minutes later.

“Morning, Professor,” Alex said, walking over to the refrigerator. “Listen, you've got to get her out of here. For everyone's sake.”

Charles sighed again, setting both the juice and the newspaper down and turning towards Alex. “I cannot just kick her out, Alex. She's my sister.”

“She is not your sister anymore,” Alex pointed out. “And you know why she can't stay here.”

“You feel the same way about Erik staying here, and he has not caused any trouble for us.”

“I am not talking about her causing trouble for us.” Alex came over to the table, jug of milk in one hand. He abandoned the milk on the table and went back to the cabinets. “Professor, you've obviously got your reasons for Magneto being here, and despite what Hank wants to think, I kind of get it ever since our conversation the last time he was here. The closer you keep him, the less he can harm you. Except Hank thinks that's ridiculous, and that the closer you keep him, the more he will harm you. But whatever. The point I'm trying to make is there is one person who has undoubtedly loyal to you through all these years, and it's not her.”

Charles ran his hands through his hair. “Alex, I appreciate your attempt at understanding when it comes to Erik, but you need to realize that Raven is very much welcome here. She has never not been welcome here. Just because this is the first time she has chosen to visit since Cuba does not mean that I should just kick her out. This was her home, Alex, and I was her family. Her home and her family when she had none. And while she may be choosing to forget about most of that, the fact that she's here, for as long or short as this visit may be, is something that I'm going to cherish. Because she was my family, she was the only good thing about my family for years and years and while I now have others to include in that descriptor, she still belongs there too.”

Alex came back to the table with a box of cereal and a bowl, and he sat down next to Charles. “Look, I get it, okay? I had siblings too. Your family is your family. But you know what she did to Hank, Professor.”

“Yes, well, I think Hank rather brought that about on himself given what he's said to me about it.”

“Professor,” Alex started, but Charles shook his head. 

“She wants to be accepted for who she is, Alex,” Charles started. “And she thought she'd found someone who understood in Hank. And he did, to a certain extent. He understood what she thought she wanted, but then she realized she didn't want that at all. And I'm not going to say that either of them is wrong about their opinions. Hank is for the time being correct about humanity not being capable of accepting someone like Raven or him in their blue forms. But Raven is also right about the fact that they shouldn't have to hide their blue forms.”

“Professor, I know. But still, you know as well as I do what she did to Hank.”

“I don't think she actually did anything to Hank,” Charles said. “They weren't in any sort of a romantic relationship that I am aware of. They had a fundamental difference of opinion and they parted ways. Raven went with Erik, and Hank stayed here with me. Now yes, you and I are both aware of the extent of Hank's feelings towards her, but that doesn't mean that Raven knew about those feelings or returned them. I think she simply declined to take a serum that wouldn't have worked in the intended way anyway.”

“You're just saying this because she's your _sister_ ,” Alex said, pouring some cereal into the bowl. 

“No, I am not,” Charles said. “I have said this to Hank many times.”

“Yeah, and Hank thinks you just say it because she's your sister,” Alex said, reaching for the milk. “Whatever the reason, it's certainly not helping things that she's here, and you desperately need to get her to leave.”

“I believe we have had several discussions about whose house this is and who gets to decide who resides in it.”

“I know, I know,” Alex said, setting the milk down and jamming his spoon into the bowl of cereal angrily. “I just think it's a really shitty thing to do to a guy who has dedicated his life to you and this place.”

“Alex, I'm not doing anything to Hank. In fact, the moment I knew she was here and staying for more than ten minutes, the first thing I did was go and tell Hank about it. I warned him.”

“I know,” Alex said, scooping up a big bite and shoving the spoon in his mouth. Charles could tell he was about to start speaking again and instead forced Alex to decide chewing and swallowing first would be a good idea. “He told me. Still, I think he's going to be hiding in the Danger Room until she's gone. He already asked me to put a note on the door of his lab canceling his classes tomorrow if she's still around.”

Charles sighed. “I don't blame him for wanting to avoid her. But I'm not asking her to leave either.”

“Fine,” Alex said, shaking his head. “Try to keep her away from me too.”

“I would like to get her and Erik alone in a room together so I can get some more information about what is going on,” Charles said, drumming his fingers against the table. “I know they spoke yesterday, but by the time I made it upstairs last night, Erik was sleeping so I couldn't ask him about it.”

“Get Peter to help,” Alex said, spooning up another bite. “Between him and Erik, they can have her locked in your room in no time.”

“No,” Charles said. “Peter does not need to be involved. I just need them to realize that I need this information just as much as they do.”

“Well, Magneto gave you information before, maybe he'll do it again.”

“I have hope,” Charles said, reaching for his juice again. “Speaking of Peter, how bored is he in your classes?”

Alex snorted. “I think he's only there for like two seconds in the beginning and two seconds in the end. Somehow has all the notes and does all the homework and aces his tests, but he's never in class.”

“I'm concerned about him,” Charles said, taking a long sip of his juice. “He tells me he's bored. He tells me that he already knows most everything he's being taught. But how can I be sure of that? He's fast enough that he could go to your desk, get the answer sheet for the test, go back to his desk, write down all the correct answers, go back to your desk, put the answer sheet back, and go back to his desk before you could blink.”

Alex frowned. “Good point. How does he do in your classes?”

“He enjoys the reading, I've noticed,” Charles mused. “And his essays are different from everyone else's. They're always a different perspective than I get from the other students. It's like the other students take the material at face value, but Peter goes deeper, delves into hidden meanings and possible explanations. He's my best student, to be perfectly honest.”

“He does love reading,” Alex said. “He's got a book with him everywhere I see him. I think I've seen him read _The Catcher In The Rye_ at least five times since the start of the semester.”

“Yes, and we haven't even covered that one in class yet.”

“Maybe you should talk to Magneto about him, since apparently we have him to thank for Peter's existence.”

Charles sighed again, looking over at Alex. “Everyone has parents, Alex, and we cannot choose who it is we have for them.”

“Oh, I know, because if I had some say in who my parents were, they definitely would not have been who they are,” Alex said, stirring the cereal around in his bowl. “But still, Magneto has a kid. That's just endlessly weird.”

“He is a man,” Charles said, polishing off his glass of juice. “Men are capable of having children.”

“He shouldn't be.”

Charles fought the urge to roll his eyes. “He's no different than you or me, Alex.”

“He's evil.”

“He is not evil.”

“Well, he sure as hell doesn't think like us.”

“No, he has a different perspective on life. Perhaps if you'd lived through a concentration camp and what Shaw did to him, you'd have a different perspective too.” Charles picked up the newspaper and set it in his lap. “Put my glass in the sink for me, will you? I'm going to go take Erik the newspaper and see if I can get him to talk.”

Alex just nodded. “Sure thing, Professor.”

“Thank you,” Charles said.


	7. day seven.

Charles waited until Peter had left the room before turning to Erik. "Are you ever going to tell me what Raven came here to talk to you about?"

"I told you yesterday," Erik said. "We talked about the fact that I'm a father."

Charles sighed heavily. "I do not appreciate being lied to."

Erik shook his head. "I'm not lying. We talked about Peter for awhile."

"What else did you talk about?" When Erik stayed silent, Charles slammed his fist down on the bed in frustration. "We are in this together, Erik. That means we share information with each other, and I just know that this is something vitally important and you're keeping it from me."

Erik shifted around until he could put his head on Charles's shoulder. "You're not going to like it."

"No shit," Charles murmured. "If I was going to like it, you would have told me already."

Erik took a deep breath. "Mystique tracked the mutant and his goons, and then fought them again, all by herself. She beat the shit out of them, essentially, and then she got information out of them. They were trackers, just like she is, except they track other mutants. The one mutant disables the powers of the mutant they are tracking, and the goons beat the mutant up enough that the mutant can't resist when they take them."

Erik fell silent again, and Charles tangled their fingers together. "Where do they take them, Erik?"

"Trask," Erik whispered. "They hunt down mutants for Trask. They were tracking Mystique. That's how they ended up at the factory."

Charles swallowed hard. "Trask Industries is still collecting mutants."

"They're turning them over to Stryker," Erik murmured. "The government thinks that Stryker is putting together a mutant task force, like a military battalion made up just of mutants. But Mystique says he has a couple of bases, and that there is all sorts of experiments going on there. She also wanted to know what I knew about adamantium."

"What is adamantium?"

Erik sighed. "It's a very, very rare metal. If you can manage to get pure adamantium, you have to keep it hot, because once it cools, it's virtually indestructible."

Charles took that information in. "Does Stryker have adamantium?"

"Mystique seems to think so. She said something about a team of mutants going to Nigeria to get a meteorite. Meteorites are good things to get adamantium from. There's very little adamantium found naturally on Earth."

Charles looked over at him. "How do you know all this about it?"

Erik sighed again. "Schmidt had a piece of adamantium. He wanted to know if I could manipulate it, and I could. It took every bit of my power to do so, but I took the little block and flattened it like a pancake. The Nazis wanted to use it in weapons, but thankfully the war ended before I got put to work making missiles out of adamantium."

"So you can manipulate a virtually indestructible metal."

"Yes. And that was then, before I knew about the place between rage and serenity, when it was just anger fueling me. It probably wouldn't be as difficult to manipulate now." Erik turned and looked at Charles. "I don't know what he thinks he's going to do with mutants and adamantium, but I don't imagine it's going to be good."

"Do you think that they're experimenting on mutants with the adamantium?"

"I can't imagine what else Stryker would need it for," Erik said, sighing heavily. "I've been worried since the moment the word adamantium was said. If Stryker can manipulate adamantium, and by that I mean get pure adamantium to a high enough temperature that it doesn't cool, then I'd call that a serious problem."

"Did Raven say where these bases are?"

"She said one is at a place called Alkali Lake," Erik said. "The other is simply known as The Island, and she has no idea where either of them are."

Charles nodded. "I've never heard of Alkali Lake, but I suspect we could find it on a map. As for The Island, I've got no ideas. Does she have any idea how many mutants they already have?"

"No, she doesn't," Erik murmured. "But she is certain that the group we ran into isn't the only group tracking mutants down. That's probably how they tracked down the mutants that we knew, and the ones that we didn't."

Charles swallowed hard. "And they're still doing it and we have no way to stop them."

"She went to D.C. to try and find out more information. She'll be back in a few days."

Charles looked over at Erik and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "I sincerely hope you're not planning on leaving with her."

"Yes, I am," Erik said softly. "I cannot stay here for too long, Charles. The longer I'm here, the more the chance that I lead them straight to you and Peter. I can't have that happen. And with Mystique around, that chance goes up more. She had no idea she was being tracked, Charles. Just like how I had no idea that I was being tracked to Peter's house. Whoever came up with their tracking system was very, very good at it."

Charles sighed heavily. "Erik, you can't even walk. You can't leave here."

"I can and I will," Erik said firmly. "You don't get to make these decisions for me, Charles. I am doing this to protect you."

"What are you going to do about your cast? It's supposed to stay on for at least six weeks."

"Well, it's not going to, I can guarantee that," Erik said sharply. "I'll go downstairs and cut it off myself if I have to."

Charles sighed again. "I'll talk to Dr. McIntyre, explain to him that you need the cast off before you leave. And when will that be?"

"Raven will be back in a week," Erik said. "So I'll be leaving in a week."

"Two weeks," Charles murmured. "You always only stay for two weeks."

Erik laughed. "I'd stay for two years if I could, Charles. It just happens to be that circumstances have dictated that I can only stay for two weeks each time. Maybe next time I come, I'll be able to stay longer."

Charles smiled at him. "I certainly hope so. I miss you when you're not here."

"I miss you too, Charles. More than you will ever know." Erik shifted around until he was face to face with Charles, and he brought their lips together softly. "One of these days, I'm going to come home and never leave."

"I know," Charles whispered. "I'm just selfish enough to want it to be now."

"There's too much left to fight for," Erik said, kissing Charles again. "And I mean it when I say I won't lead them to you and Peter, or anyone else in this place. The last thing you need is Stryker's goons showing up here. You have too many children to protect."

Charles drew Erik into another kiss. "It means a lot to me that you want to protect us. I'm worried that you're not concerned with protecting yourself. You're a sitting duck right now with your leg the way it is. You need to let it fully heal."

"I know we have taken every precaution to keep the students from seeing me, but a lot of them have, Charles. All it takes is one phone call or letter home, and one concerned parent calling the authorities, and that's that. I will not do that to you, Peter, or the kids in this school. I wouldn't even do that to Hank and Alex, despite how much they hate me. You and I both know they're being searched for." Erik paused for a moment. "I know how to hide in plain sight, Charles. Trust me when I tell you that no one except Mystique knows where I'm going to go when I leave here."

Charles sighed and dropped his forehead down so he was leaning on Erik's shoulder. "I know you're right, but like I said, selfish. And I do trust you. I just worry. I never can find you on Cerebro. I never know whether you're just wearing the helmet or you're dead. It frightens me."

“I know it does,” Erik murmured. “And I know that you're scared for me now because of my injuries. But I wear the helmet for a reason, Charles, and it's definitely not so that I can keep you from finding me. You're not the only telepath in the world, you know.”

“I know,” Charles said, nipping at the base of Erik's neck before wrapping his arms around him and leaning back against the headboard, holding Erik against his chest. “You can't blame me for worrying, Erik, but I know that you know how to take care of yourself. This was obviously a situation where your abilities were taken away from you, and that left you pretty defenseless.”

Erik settled against Charles's chest and tucked his head into the nape of Charles's neck. “I'm going to be ready if this ever happens again. A tree branch is nothing compared to a gun.”

Charles sucked in a sharp breath. “Erik.”

“Don't lecture me, Charles.”

“I'm not going to,” Charles said softly. “I'm just worried.”

Erik let his eyes drift closed as he reached up with a hand and moved the lock into place on the door. “Don't be worried, Charles. Just enjoy the time we have together. I don't know when I'll be able to return after I leave this time.”

Charles rested his head against Erik's, tightening his grip around Erik's waist. “I miss this the most when you're gone. I mean, I love the sex and everything, but just being here with you? That's what I miss the most.”

Erik smiled. “Me too, Charles. Me too.”


	8. day eight.

Alex blinked as Peter materialized in front of him, holding up his hands. “I am so not used to you doing that.”

“Listen, _Professor Summers_ , we're going to get a few things straight, alright?” Peter's voice was deadly serious. “First, you know absolutely nothing about Erik. NOTHING. You hate him for reasons that Charles doesn't even hate him for, and it's really ridiculous and rather childish.”

“Peter...”

“Second, talking about how much you wish Erik was dead every time you see Erik does not help things any. He tries, you know. You and _Professor McCoy_ are not exactly his favorite people in the world either, but he doesn't snap at you, or yell at you, or tell you how much he wishes you were dead. If you're going to keep going upstairs to give him meals, give him a fucking break or see how fast I beat you up, which, trust me, is pretty fast.”

“Peter...”

“Third, I don't really give a shit what your family situation is like, but let me give you a brief rundown on mine. My mother died when I was four months old. All I have is some photographs and I don't even have those right now because they're at Marya's house. I've spent my whole life thinking my dad was a guy named Magnus Eisenhart who walked out on my mother in the middle of the night because he was too much of a fucking coward to tell her he wanted a divorce, and yet I've wanted to meet him more than anything. I've lived with Marya and her weird ex-husband all my life, and I'd just about given up on ever meeting my father when Charles literally shows up on my doorstep and has me break him out of the fucking _Pentagon_ , and then I still don't know he's my father for another five months.”

“Peter...”

“Fourth, I have spent a grand total of three weeks with my father, and I've almost lost him. Do you have any idea how that feels? Do you have any idea how it feels to be corrected every time I try to call him Dad? Do you have any idea what it's like to listen to him tell me stories from the horrors of a concentration camp that is way, way fucking worse than anything I've ever read about in a textbook? He is my only link to my family, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only family he has except for Charles, and yes, he considers Charles family, he's told me so and he's suggested that I start to think of Charles as family too because Charles has a major influence over my life, that quite frankly, I will admit that I need. I am not going to stand by anymore and watch you try to rip my family apart, _Summers_ , so get the fuck over yourself and open your fucking eyes to what's really going on around here, alright?”

Alex blinked rapidly as Peter disappeared, and then he reappeared almost as quickly. “Oh, and one more thing. I don't fucking cheat in your class. Yes, I could totally do that without you ever noticing, but you know why I don't? BECAUSE I'M A GOOD PERSON. You seem to have forgotten that now that you know who my father is. I ace my tests because your class is too fucking easy for me. I'm bored as shit, the entire class is bored as shit, because you are the most boring professor that any of us have here, and we took an official vote on that, and that means we find Hank more interesting than you, so maybe you should think about that for awhile.”

And then Peter disappeared again. 

Alex ran his hands over his face and tried to process everything that Peter had just said when he heard a slight chuckling, and he turned around to see Charles sitting there. “How much of that did you hear?”

“Oh, all of it,” Charles said, wheeling himself closer to Alex. “I've been waiting for him to do that ever since he found out Erik was here.”

Alex ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “That was a lot to take in.”

“He's been holding it in for a long time.”

“Eight days is not a long time.”

“It's an eternity in Peter's world,” Charles said, smiling. “Alex, I think you do need to rethink the way you treat Erik. I know that you're very upset with him for his part in what happened in Cuba and what happened to me after it, but if I have forgiven Erik and moved on, then you and Hank should be able to do the same.”

“Professor, I can't.” Alex held up his hand when Charles started to talk again. “No, let me say this. You didn't see what you were like, Professor. You lived it, I know, but you were pretty bad. And then I had to leave for Vietnam and Hank stayed here with you, and every letter I got from him was full of how fucking miserable you were. Do you even realize that Hank barely left the house because he was afraid of what you'd do if he left? He thought you were going to kill yourself, Professor, and I was in Vietnam fighting a fucking war, and that's the cheery news that Hank thought was best to send me.”

Charles sighed. “Well, I'm sorry that Hank did not greet you with more positive news, and I'm sure Hank would disagree with this, but I was never suicidal. I know that my initial reaction to losing the ability to walk was not the best, but I would like you to think of what you would be like if you suddenly lost the ability to walk. I did not handle things well emotionally, and I turned to drink to solve everything, just like my alcoholic mother used to do, and I'm rather ashamed of that now, because the last thing I wanted to do in life was become my mother, and then I did for a decade. Erik and I had two entire weeks to ourselves when he first came here after the White House incident, and there was a lot of discussion about a large number of things, and you know what I decided, Alex? I decided that hating him wasn't worth the energy. I hated him for a decade and it turned me into a shell of the person that I was. 

“You may not believe this, Alex, but Erik Lehnsherr made me a better man than I had been before. You should have seen me at Oxford. Picking up co-eds with cheesy mutation-related pickup lines and drinking beer from gigantic beakers to try to best others from the science department. I didn't have any purpose in life. I knew what I wanted to study, and I had a vague idea about becoming a professor, but I didn't have a real purpose. The day Moira showed up there to talk to me is probably the most important day in my life, because she gave me a purpose. The day I met Erik was one of the best days of my life, because I knew I met an equal. He challenged me just as much I challenged him, and we made each other better for it. And yes, we have fundamental differences of opinion on how to go about things, but Alex, the world needs both of us.

“They need me to teach and train, to gather the next generation of mutants and protect them from the threats that we're facing, and make no mistake about it, we're facing threats. But the world also needs Erik to fight for us. If that happens to mean that sometimes remnants of a stadium end up around the White House, then alright. So long as no one is hurt, Erik can show off all he wants. For every mutant that agrees to come to this school, whether as a student or a teacher, there's a mutant who believes in Erik's way of doing things. And the only way we're ever going to unite all of us together is by both of us working at it, meeting up every once and awhile, comparing notes, and going from there. And that's going to happen whether you like it or not. I know what I'm doing with Erik, Alex, and so does Peter.”

Alex collapsed down onto the sofa. “Professor, I'm not trying to make it sound like I think you don't know what you're doing. I just don't agree with what it is you're doing. And yeah, maybe I've treated Peter differently since I found out Erik's his father, but do you blame me? Psychopathy probably runs in the family.”

“Peter is not a psychopath. Nor, for that matter, is Erik,” Charles said. “Alex, whether you agree with what I'm doing or not, I need you to understand that I'm doing what I think is best. There are serious threats going on out there, and we would know nothing about them right now if it wasn't for Erik's periodic visits.”

“Whatever,” Alex said, throwing up his hands. “I'm clearly not going to change your mind, Professor. Just know that Hank and I will be here to pick up the pieces when this all goes to hell.”

“It's not going to go to hell,” Charles said firmly. “And no one is going to need to pick up any pieces. Erik and I have an understanding, and I'm sorry that the only person around here who seems to be able to understand that is a sixteen-year-old kid.”

“He never saw you the way you were.”

“Oh, you think I was at my finest when I showed up at Peter's house and asked him to break Erik out of the Pentagon?” Charles laughed. “Trust me, Alex, Peter has seen me at very close to my absolute worst. He was in the elevator the first moment I came face to face with Erik again and the only reaction I had was to punch Erik straight in the nose.”

Alex gave Charles a small smile. “You punched him?”

“Oh yes,” Charles said. “And it hurt my hand a lot. Probably more than it hurt Erik's face.”

Alex laughed. “Alright, I'll lay off the 'I wish you were dead' stuff with Magneto. But that's not going to stop me from thinking it.”

“Think it all you want,” Charles said, wheeling himself out of the room. “Just don't do anything to make it happen.”


	9. day nine.

Erik awoke to the feeling of kisses being pressed all over his face, and he smiled without opening his eyes. “Charles.”

“Erik,” came the teasing voice, and then their lips met in a deep, searching kiss. “I thought of something.”

“Mmm,” Erik moaned as Charles's lips continued down along his jawline. “And what is that?”

“We can't have sex,” Charles said, nipping at Erik's throat. “But we can still have each other.”

Erik opened his eyes as Charles started to lick along his collarbone. “What are you talking about?”

Charles stopped and looked up at him through hooded eyes. “I have a hand. You have a hand. We can use these hands for nefarious things.”

Erik laughed and pulled Charles up into a deep kiss. “Why did it takes us nine days to think of this?”

“I don't know, but now that we have, can you please get that underwear off?” Charles punctuated his request with another deep, searching kiss that left Erik aching. 

Erik sighed when they broke apart. “I think you're going to have to help me on that one,” he murmured. “Stupid motherfucking cast.”

Charles just nodded and disappeared underneath the sheets, tugging at the waistband. Erik lifted his hips as best he could, and soon Charles reappeared, the offending material clamped between his teeth. Erik laughed again, reaching out and taking the underwear before throwing them somewhere across the room. 

“You are very funny this morning, you know that?” Erik said, helping pull Charles back up the bed.

“I am very needy,” Charles countered, kissing Erik deeply. “Come on, on your side. I think this will work best if we're facing each other.”

Erik rolled onto his side and slid closer to Charles, reaching out to pull him into a kiss. “Charles.”

“Erik,” Charles answered, running a finger down Erik's chest.

“Soundproof?”

“Already done. Just silence, since it's 3:30am.”

Erik smiled and kissed Charles again. “You know I'm not going to want to let you leave this bed again now, right?”

“Don't worry,” Charles said, laughing. “I plan on making sure you're very, very worn out so you can sleep all day while I go about my business.”

Erik gasped when Charles's hand suddenly wrapped itself around his cock, and he felt himself harden even more. “Fuck.”

Charles just laughed. “I've got nine days to make up for, you know,” he whispered, gently moving his hand up and down the shaft. “I should have been making you come for days.”

“Charles?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up and kiss me.

Charles obliged, crashing his lips upon Erik's as he slowly picked up the speed of his hand. He moaned into the kiss when Erik's hand wrapped around his cock, and soon they were stroking each other earnestly, moaning and groaning into the passionate, needy kisses they were sharing. Charles let his fingers linger lightly over the head of Erik's cock before gently dragging his fingernails down its length, making Erik hiss into their kiss. Erik responded by rubbing his thumb right over Charles's slit, making him arch into the contact and groan loudly.

Their hands moved faster and faster, gripped harder and harder, each of them doing exactly what they knew the other liked, until Charles's hand stilled as he came between them, coating both their chests. He took a few moments to regain his senses then started to work Erik's cock hard and fast, and it wasn't long until Erik was coming, moaning long and loud against Charles's lips. They took awhile to come down from the orgasmic high, and then their lips met again, soft and loving, before they both broke out into laughter. 

“You're amazing,” Erik murmured, bringing his non-sticky hand up to curl through Charles's hair. 

Charles just shook his head. “You're the amazing one.”

“I think we're going to have to agree to disagree about this,” Erik mumbled. “We're never going to agree on it.”

“Deal,” Charles said, kissing Erik gently. “I know it wasn't you fucking me, but, um, satisfactory?”

“Perfect,” Erik whispered, drawing Charles into another kiss. “Exactly what I needed.”

Charles smiled at him through the darkness. “I suppose I should go get something to clean us up with.”

“Not yet,” Erik murmured, kissing him again. “Stay for a little while.”

Charles settled back down beside him and stared into Erik's eyes. “I don't want you to leave,” he said eventually.

“I know,” Erik answered. “And I don't want to leave. But I have to.”

“Erik.”

“No, Charles, I do,” Erik said seriously. “Someone has to hunt down those trackers of Trask's. Someone has to protect the mutant population from whatever this program of Stryker's is. You need to do it by recruiting and rescuing students. I need to do it by systematically taking out these trackers.”

“What if you get hurt again?” Charles whispered, his greatest fear put into words.

“It's a risk I have to take,” Erik said softly. “And if I do, I'll find my way here. I promise you, I won't spend two weeks like that in an abandoned factory again.”

“You better not,” Charles said seriously. “I was terrified when I first saw you, Erik.”

“I promise,” Erik said firmly. “And you know how seriously I take my promises.”

Charles just nodded. “Can you do something for me?”

“What?”

“Don't always wear the helmet?” Charles asked softly. “Sometimes, when I can't sleep, I go into Cerebro and try to find you, and since you almost always have it on, I can't, and then I worry.”

Erik pulled Charles into another kiss. “You know why I wear it Charles. And with these trackers out there, I'm probably going to need it more than ever.”

“But when you're someplace safe,” Charles said, “and I know you have safe places to go, can you just leave it off for a little while? Just in case I happen to be in there? I just want to know that you're alright.”

“You'd be able to know exactly where I am,” Erik said seriously. “I don't want you to know where I go when I leave here.”

“Erik.”

“Charles, it's for your own good. If the government was to ever find you, it's better for you to have no idea of where I am. If they think you do, I don't want to know what they'd do to you to try and get that information out of you.”

“The government is not going to get me,” Charles said seriously. “They haven't found me yet, and they're not going to. I promise you that.”

“Charles.”

“Erik, I'm serious. There are a ton of protections for this school. The moment any of them is breached, I'll know. They're not going to get me, or Peter, or any of the children or teachers.”

Erik took a deep breath. “That's my biggest fear, you know? You and Peter at the mercy of the government. Men just following orders. I know all about men just following orders, Charles.”

“I know,” Charles said soothingly. “I know. But Erik, you have to trust me to take care of myself. And to take care of Peter. I promised you that I would and I meant that.”

Erik nodded. “I think Peter's getting frustrated with me.”

“Yes, he is.”

“He wants me to be his father, Charles, and I just don't know if I can be the type of father that he wants.”

Charles smiled at him. “In case you haven't noticed, I think Peter believes you could walk on water if you tried. He adores you, Erik. He just wants you to love him just as much in return.”

“I do,” Erik said, sighing. “To the best of my ability, anyway. And I don't know how to make him understand that.”

“You could start by letting him call you Dad,” Charles said softly. “I know it's hard, but he really wants to be able to do that.”

Erik nodded. “Magda would have wanted that.”

“Then maybe you should consider it, hm?”

Erik shifted around, settling his head onto the pillow. “It makes me think of my father.”

“Is that such a bad thing?”

“No,” Erik said, shaking his head. “It just makes me wish he could meet Peter. Peter looks so much like him.”

“Have you told Peter that?”

“Yes,” Erik whispered. “I have.”

“Well, then maybe Peter is a way for you to still have a connection with your father,” Charles said softly. “I know it's not the same as if he were here, but maybe it's something.”

Erik started to speak but was interrupted by a yawn. “Maybe you're right.”

“I'm always right,” Charles said cheekily. “You want to go back to sleep?” Erik nodded, and Charles threw back the bed linens. “Alright, I'll go get something to clean us up. You just lay on your back and close your eyes, okay?”

Erik did as he was told as Charles maneuvered himself into his wheelchair. By the time Charles came back from the en suite, Erik was sound asleep.


	10. day ten.

“I don't recommend this, Mr. Lehnsherr. I just want to make that abundantly clear.” 

Erik looked over at Dr. McIntyre and nodded. “I know. But I want you to do it anyway.”

Dr. McIntyre stared at him for a moment before looking over at Charles. Charles just nodded. “It's Erik's decision, Michael. If he wants the cast off, then the cast needs to come off.”

“I will not be held responsible when he re-breaks the leg?”

“No, you won't,” Charles said, turning his gaze to Erik.

“Trust me, you aren't responsible for anything,” Erik said, drawing Dr. McIntyre's attention back to him. “No medical malpractice or whatever it is you call it. Just take it off.”

Dr. McIntyre sighed but reached for the small automatic saw, looking down at the cast. “You are aware that you're still not going to be able to walk?”

Erik opened his mouth to speak but Charles cut him off. “There are crutches for him to use, Michael.”

Dr. McIntyre sighed again, but this time he turned on the saw, carefully bringing it down to the top of the cast. Erik watched, fascinated, as he carefully made his way from the top of the cast to the bottom, then turned off the saw and set it to the side. Dr. McIntyre peeled the cast open, moving it away from Erik's injured leg before undoing the dressings that were underneath it. Once all the bandages and plastercast was moved away, Erik got a good look at the long scar with stitches in it that ran down his leg.

“Damn,” Erik murmured, reaching down to touch it. “I wasn't expecting it to be that bad.”

Dr. McIntyre started to say something but bit his lip when Erik glared at him. “Alright, it's done. Is there anything else you need?”

“No, Michael,” Charles said, wheeling himself close to the bed. “I think that will be all.”

Dr. McIntyre nodded and then left the room, leaving Charles and Erik alone. Charles reached out and took Erik's hand, stopping him from running his fingers along the stitches.

“And how do you plan on getting the stitches out, hm?”

“Stitches are easy,” Erik said, leaning back. “I've gotten plenty of stitches out in my day.”

Charles just shook his head. “Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not,” Erik murmured, looking at him. “So you have crutches for me to hobble around on?”

“Yes,” Charles said. “And you can feel free to take them with you when you leave. I can replace them quickly enough.”

Erik sighed. “I don't want to leave, Charles. But I have to.”

“I know,” Charles said softly. “And I trust that you will take care of yourself and let yourself heal the rest of the way before you do something stupid like re-breaking your leg.”

“It should be easy enough,” Erik said. “I'll be in a car most of the time. I can drive with my other foot.”

“You're serious about hunting down these trackers?”

“I don't even want to think about how many of our mutant brothers and sisters are being tortured by Stryker right now,” Erik said firmly. “Someone has to stop him from getting a hold of anyone else.”

“You don't know that he's torturing them,” Charles said, sighing. “But I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.”

“What else would a military man want with mutants?” Erik swung his legs around and sat up. “I don't trust the government, I don't trust the military, and I certainly don't trust either of them because Trask Industries is involved. Bolivar Trask may be in jail, and the Sentinel program may be canceled, but someone is running Trask Industries, someone is rounding up mutants for the government program that they claim is only to monitor mutants that they deem are dangerous, someone is looking for all of us that are on that list, and a group of their trackers nearly got me and Mystique.”

“I know, Erik,” Charles said, putting a hand on Erik's knee. “And I trust your instincts on this one. The government and Trask – that's a partnership that makes my skin crawl. And I know that we are on their list. But we have to protect ourselves, Erik. And I'm worried that you won't do that.”

“I know how to protect myself, Charles,” Erik said seriously. “Better than you seem to think I do.”

“And where exactly are you going to get this gun you keep talking about, hm? I highly doubt you're going to be able to just walk into a gun shop and buy one. The entire country is on the lookout for you.”

“I know,” Erik said, refusing to meet Charles's gaze. “That's why I didn't do it.”

Charles stared at Erik for a few moments. “What do you mean, that's why you didn't do it? You already have this gun? You have a gun in this house? And how did you get it?”

“Yes, I already have it, yes, it's in the mansion, and I don't want to tell you how I got it.”

Charles stared at him for a few more moments before sighing. “You sent a sixteen-year-old to go buy you a gun?”

“He volunteered,” Erik said meekly, still avoiding Charles's gaze. “I gave him access to one of my bank accounts, so if he starts walking around with new stuff, make sure that he paid for it.”

“Erik,” Charles admonished, smacking him on the knee. “I can't believe you had your son go buy you a gun.”

“What was I supposed to do?” Erik asked, finally meeting Charles's gaze. “You're right; I couldn't just walk into a gun shop and expect that no one in there would not know who I am. The government may be looking for Peter but they aren't broadcasting pictures of him every ten seconds during the newscasts. He could get away with it.”

“Do I even want to know where this gun shop that sells to a sixteen-year-old kid is located?”

“It's here in Westchester,” Erik said. “And they didn't think he was sixteen. He's got a fake ID.”

Charles sighed heavily. “Of course he does. Erik, your son is entirely too much like you for me to handle sometimes, you know that?”

Erik laughed. “Well, like he told me once, being a mutant is the family business. I suppose it's only fair that he's a lot like me.”

“He idolizes you,” Charles said. “He thinks you're absolutely insane, but he idolizes you.”

Erik just nodded. “I know. He likes Erik; he doesn't like Magneto.”

“And there you go talking about yourself as though you're two different people again.”

“In a way,” Erik said, “we are. Magneto would never let feelings get in the way of what he needs to accomplish. Whereas Erik sees you and everything turns into chaos because you get to me that much.”

“I think Peter's right. You are insane.”

Erik just laughed. “And you're not, Professor X? You're the one with a quasi-military base in your basement.”

“It never hurts to be prepared,” Charles said, shaking his head. “And you don't know the half of what's down here. I'm not sure quasi-military base is an appropriate term.”

“Oh, I can only imagine,” Erik said, looking around. “You want to get me those crutches now?”

Charles wheeled away from the bed and over to a closet, opening it and grabbing the crutches out of it. He made his way back over to Erik and handed them over. “You may need to adjust the height.”

Erik shuffled off the bed and onto the crutches, getting used to them. “Nah, they're fine.”

“Now promise me you're not going to do something stupid and try to walk on that leg before you should,” Charles said, staring straight at Erik. 

“Charles.”

“Erik, you're going to be far worse off than you are right now if you re-break that leg and you can't go somewhere to get it fixed.”

Erik sighed. “Fine, I will try my hardest not to walk on it for another month.”

“I don't know where you're going when you leave here, and I know you're not going to tell me, but I hope it is somewhere with a bed so you can take care of yourself for the next month. And I know it's a month that you don't want to spend taking care of yourself, but if you injure yourself again, so help me God.”

Erik laughed. “You won't be able to do anything to me, Charles.”

“I will the next time you show up here,” Charles said seriously. “You don't wear that damned helmet when you're in my house.”

“You promised me you'd never read my mind.”

“Yes, well, sometimes circumstances dictate otherwise,” Charles said, wheeling his way towards the door. “Come on, let's get you back up to the room before too many students see you.”

Erik followed along slowly on the crutches, getting used to moving with them. “Charles?”

“What?”

“I'll take care of myself. I promise.”

Charles smiled as he arrived at the elevator, pressing the button to call it. “And I know how seriously you take your promises.”

“Exactly,” Erik said, coming to a stop next to Charles.

“Good,” Charles said, looking over at him. “I'm going to hold you to that.”

“I know,” Erik said, nodding. “And you should.”

Charles turned back to the elevator doors and sighed. “I wish you'd stay here until you're fully healed.”

“I can't, Charles.”

“I know,” Charles said softly. “Doesn't change the fact that I wish you would.”

The elevator doors opened then, disrupting the conversation.


	11. day eleven.

Charles looked up to find Peter in the doorway of his study. "Peter, this is a surprise."

"Dad sent me," Peter said, walking into the study and closing the door behind him. "And please don't tell him that I called him Dad. I think he'd probably freak out."

Charles just nodded. "I won't say a word."

"So, um," Peter said, collapsing into one of the chairs. "He wants his helmet back."

Charles just shook his head. "Can your father do nothing for himself? I already hear he sent you to buy a gun for him. And I should confiscate that fake ID of yours."

"I volunteered for the gun thing," Peter said softly. "There was just too much risk involved in him going to get one."

"I understand that, but still, he should not have had a sixteen-year-old kid go buy a gun."

"I'm not here to argue with you, Professor. I'm just here to get Dad's helmet. He seems very attached to it."

Charles sighed and thought about where he had the helmet hidden. "Do you know what that helmet does, Peter?"

"Not a clue," Peter said, shaking his head. "I'm just not supposed to come back without it."

Charles stared at Peter for the moment before sighing. _I do not appreciate you sending your son to do your dirty work, Erik._

"Peter, that helmet has some very interesting characteristics that your father claims not to know the truth about, but your father can sense anything about metal, so I highly doubt he's telling me the truth. The basic fact is that when he puts that helmet on, telepaths like myself cannot read his mind."

_I thought you'd be more inclined to give it to him instead of me, Charles._

"Oh," Peter said, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "So like, if he has the helmet on, you can't figure out where he is?"

_It's not going to work, Erik._

"Correct," Charles said. "The only reason I was able to find him this time was because he didn't have the helmet."

Peter sighed heavily. "Now I have a problem."

_Just give him the helmet, Charles. You know I'll be able to find it no matter where you're hiding it._

"What problem, Peter?"

_Trust me, Erik, not even you can get that helmet from where it is currently located. I don't have it on display like the Pentagon._

"I want to get Dad the helmet," Peter murmured. "But I want you to be able to find him if he's hurt again, and I don't think that will happen if he has the helmet. So now I don't know what to do."

_I can sense it, Charles. You think I can't tell the difference between the metal in that helmet and the rest of the metal in this building? I know exactly where you have it._

"Well, Peter, I would suggest determining which of those two options you want more," Charles said.

_You may know exactly where it is, but I'd like to see you try to get into the room where it's being kept. Not even you can get through the security set up for that room, Erik._

"I want him to be safe. He says the helmet makes him safer. Does it?"

"Depends on the situation. If there is a telepath around who could take control of Erik's mind, then yes, the helmet is something that would make him safer. But from my experience so far, telepaths are not common. I only know of one other at this point, and that telepath has unfortunately died."

Peter thought about that for a moment. "So you're saying that he's basically just wearing that helmet to hide from you."

_You would be surprised what kind of security I can get through, Charles._

"I'm not saying that there aren't other telepaths out there. There may very well be. But as far as ones that are known to me, I'm the only one that's alive." Charles took a deep breath. "You must remember, Peter, every mutation is rare. As a race, we are still rare. The humans outnumber us by quite a large margin. But that is going to change as time goes on, and well, I imagine there is a limited number of mutations that people can have. You might not be the only one with super speed, Peter. There might be another someday."

_You can't sense what's around that helmet, Erik. There is absolutely no way you can get to it. Trust me on that one._

"Why does he want to hide from you? He loves you." Peter looked at Charles with confusion in his eyes and Charles sighed again.

"He wants to keep me from knowing what he's up to," Charles eventually said. "He knows that I won't approve. He's reckless, Peter. He tends to act before he thinks. What do you think he wants the gun for?"

_I'm sorry, did you not see me literally pull the emergency chamber out of the ground underneath the White House? You really think I won't be able to pull the helmet out of wherever you have it? Oh Charles, I thought you were smarter than this._

Peter swallowed hard. "He's killed a bunch of people, hasn't he?"

Charles didn't know how to answer that except truthfully. "Yes. He says it's only when necessary but sometimes I think we would have a different definition of necessary."

"I don't want him to kill anyone else," Peter said firmly. "But I doubt he'd listen to me on that. However, if he doesn't have the helmet, and you can find him, you may be able to stop him from doing something monumentally stupid like dropping a stadium around the White House."

_Erik, you are assuming that there is other metal surrounding your helmet. Believe me, my friend, when I assure you that there is not. In fact, there is not metal around it for quite a distance._

"I can't spend twenty-four hours a day watching him in Cerebro, but yes, I may be able to stop him from being monumentally stupid. But I stress the _may_. Erik is a very powerful mutant, Peter. He doesn't know his own strengths. He thinks he does, but he's really only scratched the surface when it comes to what he's capable of."

Peter nodded and stood up. "Alright, I've made up my mind. No helmet. I want you to be able to find him when I need him, but more importantly when he needs you. So no helmet. I hope you have it hidden well."

Charles smiled. "Trust me, Peter. There is no possible way that he can get to that helmet."

"Good. Goodnight, Professor." Peter walked out of the study and closed the door behind him.

_I will have that helmet before I leave, Charles._

_Try all you like, Erik, but you're not getting your hands on it. I'll be up shortly. There's something I have to do first._

Charles could hear Erik's mental sigh. _Fine. See you then._

Charles smiled and wheeled himself over to where the table with the chessboard was, and carefully moved it out of the way. He bent down and pressed on the small square in the middle of the carpet, and watched as a large square of the carpet moved away. 

A tower of cement began to rise from the floor until it almost hit the ceiling, and then Charles punched the code into the keypad. A section of the cement tower spun around, revealing Erik's helmet. Charles stared at it for a moment before closing his eyes, making sure that all of the mental shields he'd put around it were still in place. When he was satisfied they were, he pressed another button to close the tower and lower it back into the ground. Once everything was back in place, Charles moved the table back into place, smiled, and headed for the door.

There was no way Erik was ever going to get to that.


	12. day twelve.

“You're going to leave soon, aren't you?”

Erik looked over at Peter and sighed when he saw the disappointed look on his face. “Two more days.”

“I can't decide if knowing you is the best thing that's ever happened to me or the biggest disappointment in the world,” Peter declared, suddenly appearing on the side of the bed Erik was lying on. “You never stick around, you only think I'm good for doing things like going and getting you a gun that you won't even let me learn to use, and I don't even get to call you Dad.”

Erik sighed and reached out to grab Peter's wrist before he moved away. “Sit down.”

“No.”

“Peter, sit down.”

“No,” Peter said, trying to pull away, but Erik's grip on his wrist tightened. 

“Sit down.”

Peter tried one more time to pull his arm free before giving up and sitting on the edge of the bed. “What?”

“I won't tell you that I'm not a big disappointment, because I probably am. But let's get a few things straight, okay? First, I never stick around because it's better for everyone's safety that I don't. Do you want to be chased around by the FBI and CIA for the rest of your life?”

“No.”

“I didn't think so. Second, I think, no, I know that you're good for more than just going to buy me a gun. I am currently in a position where I couldn't get one myself, and you volunteered. I will be glad to show you how to use a gun someday when I am able to walk again and when you promise me that you'll never tell Charles that I did that.”

“Okay.”

“Thirdly,” Erik paused for a few moments and then took a deep breath. “Thirdly, when we are alone, or when Charles is with us, you may call me Dad.”

“Really?” Peter's eyes brightened exponentially. 

“But _only_ when we are alone or it is the two of us and Charles. Despite the fact that I think you calling me Dad would make Hank and Alex's heads explode and that would be fun to watch, I think the less we bring up my paternal relationship to you in front of them, the better it will be for you.”

Peter nodded so fast that Erik almost missed it. “Okay,” he said, pausing, “Dad.”

Erik sucked in a deep breath while Peter grinned. “I'm still going to have to get used to that.”

“That's okay, Dad. I'll say it so much that you'll be used to it in no time. Dad. You're my Dad. I've always wanted a dad. Django told me I could call him Dad, but I only ever wanted to call my father Dad. And now I can. This is like amazing. Thanks Dad,” Peter said, so fast that he'd said it in between two breaths.

Erik forced himself to breathe and try to make sense of what Peter had just rambled. “You're welcome?” he said questioningly at the end of it, wondering if this was a massive mistake.

Peter just threw himself at Erik, wrapping his arms around him. “Thanks Dad.”

Erik sat there for a moment before wrapping his arms around Peter in return. “You're welcome, son.”

Peter pulled back and grinned at Erik for a minute before disappearing from the room. Erik let his head fall back against the wall and sucked in several deep breaths. Dad. He was officially Dad. Charles would be proud of him.

“You're right about that,” Charles said suddenly, and Erik turned to see him wheeling his way into the room.

“Why are you in my head again?”

“I'm not,” Charles said. “You're thinking really loudly. Close and lock the door?”

The door behind Charles swung shut and locked itself. “He said he couldn't decide if I was the best thing that had happened to him or the biggest disappointment he'd known. Is it wrong that I didn't want to be the disappointment?”

Charles shook his head as he maneuvered himself onto the bed next to Erik. “No, Erik, it's not wrong to want the love and affection of your son. Not even for you.”

Erik just rolled his eyes and pulled Charles closer, pillowing him under his arm. “He's not happy that I'm leaving in two days.”

“Is it two days?”

“Don't tell me that you haven't noticed that Mystique is back.”

Charles sighed. “I had. I was just hoping it wasn't because you were going to leave with her.”

“She wanted me to go now,” Erik whispered. “I managed to convince her to wait.”

“Does she have any new news?”

“She thinks she's figured out where Alkali Lake is. She did not, however, tell me anything more specific than that it's somewhere in Canada, which should narrow down to, oh, about ten thousand different places at the very least. She wants to scout it out on her own.”

Charles just shook his head. “I suppose there's no point in trying to talk her out of that.”

“Absolutely no point,” Erik said, running his hand down Charles's arm comfortingly. “She won't listen to you and she won't listen to me either.”

“Did you try?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then. What else?”

Erik sighed. “She had a few questions about where I want her to take me when we leave here. I will not tell you anything more about that.”

It was Charles's turn to sigh. “Fine. What else?”

“We discussed my helmet.”

“I told you, I'm not giving it back to you.”

“I know you did. I simply relayed that information to her.”

Charles glanced up at him. “You're being surprisingly calm about the helmet thing.”

“Well, it's not as if I can go walking around this place trying to find it, now is it?”

“You said you could feel it.”

“I can.”

“Did you tell Raven where it was?” Erik fell silent, and Charles just laughed. “It's alright if you did. She can't get it any more than you can.”

“She seemed to think otherwise.”

“Yeah, we'll see about that.”

Erik leaned his head against Charles's. “I'm going to miss you.”

“Then don't leave.”

“Charles.”

“I know, I know,” Charles said quietly. “You have to. I just wish you didn't.”

“Someday, Charles.”

“I'm an impatient son of a bitch, Erik. I want someday to be today.”

“I think Peter does too,” Erik said softly. “He didn't like my timeline for leaving either.”

“You can't blame Peter for wanting his father to be a constant presence in his life,” Charles said. “You can, however, blame me for being selfish and wanting you all to myself for the rest of our lives.”

“Do you ever think there's going to be a time when the world will accept us, Charles?” Erik asked after a few minutes.

“I believe there are many people in the world who already do accept mutants, Erik.”

“No, Charles, not mutants,” Erik said, taking a deep breath. “People like us.”

Charles sat there for a moment before shifting around to kiss Erik gently. “I keep forgetting you spent a decade in prison and that you probably haven't seen much of the news since you got out.”

“What does that mean?” 

“It means there was an event in Greenwich Village in New York City in 1969 called the Stonewall Riots, and that really ignited the gay and lesbian rights movement here in the United States. Don't get me wrong, there's still a long, long way to go, much as it is with mutants, but gay men and lesbian women aren't hiding themselves the way they used to. Some are, of course, because they aren't comfortable with others knowing their sexual preferences, but many are not. We just had a big development last year when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of psychiatric disorders. Homosexuality is being decriminalized in certain places. It's really a movement that is gaining momentum just like the mutant rights movement.”

Erik stared at Charles for a moment before Charles leaned in and kissed him again. “Where did I lose you, Erik?”

“You didn't,” Erik murmured. “I just, I can't imagine a world where how we feel for each other would be accepted, and you're telling me the world is starting to.”

“Yes, well, we once couldn't imagine a world where our abilities would be accepted, and we're starting to have that, so like I like to tell my students, anything is possible when a large enough group of people want it to happen.”

“You're so naively optimistic, Charles. It's almost adorable.”

Charles just shook his head. “And you're so stubbornly pessimistic. It is far from adorable.”

“We balance each other out,” Erik said, smiling at Charles.

“That we do, my friend,” Charles murmured as he leaned in for another kiss. “Want to take advantage of the time between now and dinner? I haven't gotten to just kiss you in several hours and that's entirely too long.”

Erik grinned at him and pulled Charles closer. “Like I could ever turn that down.”


	13. day thirteen.

Raven walked into the small cellar that was deep below the mansion, the one she'd first found when she went exploring as a child. She had excitedly shown it to Charles, who remarked that he'd had no idea of its existence. They'd eventually figured out that it was right below Brian Xavier's study, the room that Charles had refused to allow either of the Markos to enter. 

She wasn't surprised to find that the room had been upgraded since the last time she'd been in it.

The damp concrete walls were now bright, shiny white, matching the rest of the downstairs bunker. There were shelving units on every wall, filled with things that intrigued Raven. There was a stack of books that she'd never seen before, each one's spine listing one Charles Xavier as the author. She pulled one down and looked closely at the title. _The Beauty of Genetic Mutation_ was the title of the book, and she recognized it instantly as a section of Charles's thesis. 

She had no idea he'd ever had his thesis published.

A quick look at the other books showed them to be the other sections of his thesis, the ones she had listened to him endlessly drone on about during their time in Oxford. She opened up the book in her hand and turned to the title page, surprised to find the book had been signed.

_To my dearest Raven,_

_I never could have done this without you. Thank you for showing me the beauty of your mutation, even if I didn't fully appreciate it until now._

_Charles_

Raven felt her eyes fill with tears and she slammed the book shut, putting it back on the shelf. It didn't matter if Charles appreciated her now; he hadn't when it really mattered. Erik hadn't fully appreciated her either, and as soon as she got him out of the mansion and to his safe house, she was gone. She had things to attend to, like finding Alkali Lake and figuring out what the hell Stryker was doing there. It helped that Logan was there; finding the place was going to be so much easier because she could track him.

But none of that was the reason she was down there. She searched the room for what she'd come down there for before sighing. Erik's helmet was nowhere in sight, which meant that Charles had it hidden.

There was a big cement pillar in the middle of the room that never used to be there, and Raven quickly found a keypad on it. If there was one thing that Raven knew unequivocally, it was what Charles used for codes. The safe in the mansion had one, the safe they'd had in Oxford had one, the door to Brian Xavier's old study used to have one. 

Raven smiled and punched a code onto the keypad, frowning when the first one didn't work. She tried the second one, and it didn't work. She tried the third one, and it didn't work. She slapped her palm against the pillar and sighed. She thought for a few minutes, then came to a conclusion. She turned to the keypad and typed in the new code - 10231962 - and grinned when a section of the pillar suddenly spun around. 

It appeared to be empty, but Raven knew this was just Charles's last line of defense. She reached into the space and felt her hands collide with cold metal, and she got a good grasp on it before pulling it from inside the pillar. When she was done, she looked down and immediately frowned.

It wasn't Erik's helmet. 

She recognized what was in her hands as a metal double helix that Erik had made Charles during the days when they were all living at the mansion like one big happy family. The helix was surrounded by a metallic egg, leaving the front opened so the double helix could be seen. Erik had made it out of some sort of special metal that he'd had in his suitcase, a rare metal that Raven hadn't even heard of. She tried desperately to remember what it was called until it hit her. 

Beryllium. She was willing to bet anything that there was beryllium in Erik's helmet, and that's what he'd been feeling.

A quick glance around the rest of the room revealed a lot of lab equipment that she figured was too precious, too rare, or too dangerous to just leave sitting around the mansion, more books that Raven couldn't believe really needed to be in the cellar, and an old manual wheelchair that she figured must be the one they'd sent Charles home from the hospital with.

No helmet.

Sighing heavily, Raven put the helix back into the pillar and closed the section. Erik was not going to be happy when she told him he wasn't feeling his helmet.

In the meantime, Charles was sitting above the room in his study, fingers playing with a key to a safe deposit box at a bank in New York City. He had a huge smile on his face, and some of his students had noticed. When queried about it, Charles just smiled wider. "Just a good day today," he said, fully prepared for the mental argument he was about to have.

Erik may have said he didn't believe Charles was stupid, but Charles _really_ wasn't stupid. Like he would have left that helmet in the mansion.

He was a genius geneticist. He wasn't an idiot.

Charles looked up when the door to the study opened, a woman Charles had never seen before slinking inside like she was going to interrupt a lecture or get one herself. She quickly made her way to Charles's desk and handed him a note before slipping out of the office quickly. Opening it, Charles grinned when he read the note.

_Thanks for the books. I never knew you had them published._

Charles folded the note and put it in the top drawer of his desk, before turning back to his students. "I think you've had enough time to write your paragraphs. Let's see what sort of ideas you were able to come up with about the first three chapters of _This Side of Paradise_. Christopher, why don't you start?"

_Charles!_

Charles almost laughed out loud. _Yes, darling?_

_Give me back my helmet!_

Charles coughed to cover up his laugh, apologizing to Christopher and encouraging him to continue. _We've already had this conversation, Erik. No._

Charles could hear the mental scream of frustration. _Don't make our last day together like this, Charles. Please._

Christopher finished reading his paragraph and Charles nodded encouragingly. "Well done, Christopher. Alright, who shall go next?"

_I'm not making our last day together like anything Erik. I'm doing what I think is best, and you will realize that before the end._

_The end of what?_

_You will find out._

_You infuriate me, Charles Xavier._

_Believe me, Erik Lensherr, the feeling is mutual._

Charles just heard laughter echo through his mind, and he turned his attention fully back onto his class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bonus points if you can figure out what the code stands for.


	14. day fourteen.

Charles awoke early in the morning to the sound of something bumping loudly into his dresser. “What the hell is going on?”

“Go back to sleep,” Erik hushed.

Instead, Charles maneuvered himself so he was sitting up in bed. “Erik? What are you doing?”

“Go back to sleep, Charles.” Erik tried to move again and yelped.

Charles's eyes widened and he immediately turned on a lamp and started moving towards his wheelchair. “Erik, what are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Erik said. “Go back to sleep.”

“I don't think so,” Charles said, getting into his wheelchair and coming around to the other side of the bed. Erik was before him in the dim light, crutches by his sides, shirt hanging from the dresser drawer, pants half on one leg. Charles just sighed and pointed towards the bed. “Sit.”

“Charles.”

“I said sit,” Charles said, more harshly than he meant but it got Erik to sit down.

Charles wheeled himself closer and took the pair of pants, shaking his head as he began to work them onto the other leg. “I wish you weren't doing this.”

“Are you going to stop me?” Erik asked, and Charles could pick up on the underlying fear.

“No,” Charles said softly, looking up at him. “I could. I could make you stay. But I don't want you here because I made you stay. I want you here because you want to be here.”

“I do want to be here,” Erik said. “I just can't be here right now.”

“I know,” Charles said sadly. “And I understand, I do. I just wish it wasn't like this.”

“Charles,” Erik said, reaching out and caressing the side of his face. “I'm sorry.”

Charles shook his head immediately. “No. No false apologies. I don't even know what you're apologizing for, and even if I did, I wouldn't want to hear it. Besides, you don't mean it.”

“Charles.”

Charles inched the pants up over Erik's injured leg and got them up to his hips. “You can finish them from there.”

Erik shifted around until he had the pants on fully, and then he reached for the shirt only for Charles to pluck it out of his grasp. “Charles.”

“Let me do this. Please.”

Erik swallowed hard and nodded, holding out one arm when Charles requested it, watching the white shirt sleeve be worked up his arm. “We've never done this before.”

“I know,” Charles said softly. “I just thought it would be nice. You always help me redress after we've had sex. I find it rather intimate.”

“It is,” Erik whispered as Charles worked the shirt across his back. “Charles, I'm going to miss you.”

“You'll always know where to find me,” Charles said, working Erik's other arm through the other sleeve. “And you'll always be welcome here, no matter what happens.”

“I know you say that, but I can't believe that there won't ever be a time when you won't want to see me.”

“I didn't want to see you after the White House,” Charles said, beginning to button Erik's shirt. “I would have been perfectly happy with my life if I never saw you again. Yet I let you in, I let you stay, and I'm a much better and happier man because of it.”

Erik caressed the side of Charles's face again. “You're the most amazing man I've ever met, Charles Xavier.”

“You're the most amazing man I've ever met, Erik Lehnsherr.” Charles finished buttoning the shirt and smoothed it into place. “There. Much better than trying to kill yourself by dressing on one leg in the dark.”

Erik captured Charles's hand and held it against his heart. They just stayed like that, staring at each other without saying a word, for a few minutes until Erik brought the hand up to his lips and kissed it softly. “I'm looking forward to getting to live a lot of things with you, Charles. And I'm not talking about anything to do with mutants. I'm talking about getting to hold your hand without anyone making a comment, or kissing you in front of someone else and them not being disgusted. You told me that the world is moving towards that point. I sincerely hope it gets there in time for us to enjoy it.”

“Have faith, my friend,” Charles said, wheeling himself closer to him. “I take it you're leaving before the sun comes up.”

“Mystique is itching to get to Canada,” Erik said, squeezing Charles's hand. “The direction I need her to go is pretty much the exact opposite of Canada.”

“Are you going to say goodbye to Peter?”

“Yes,” Erik said, nodding. “He said he'd be up. Apparently he doesn't sleep much.”

“I'm pretty sure Peter gets all the sleep he needs in about fifteen seconds. Dr. McIntyre has studied him, and he's not sleep deprived.”

“He's doing well here, right?” Erik asked, concern in his voice.

“He's doing brilliantly,” Charles reassured. “I'm going to have to come up with more advanced classes for next semester for him and some of the children. They're too intelligent for the classes I have them in now.”

Erik smiled. “Well, I hope that he doesn't cause you too much trouble.”

“He doesn't, not really,” Charles said, smiling back. “Most of the time I find him to be so like you that I can't stay mad at him. Much like how I can't stay mad at you.”

“Charles.”

“I know, I know, I hated you for a decade. That wasn't my finest moment by any stretch. But once you were here, once I was around you being you again, it lasted about a day and a half.”

Erik smiled and leaned forward, capturing Charles's lips in a deep kiss. “I'm really going to miss you.”

“I'm really going to miss you too,” Charles said, leaning in for another kiss. “Make sure you're not injured next time. We have a lot of sex to make up for.”

Erik groaned and pressed his lips to Charles's again. “The handjobs were nice but nowhere near enough.”

“Like I said, lots of sex to make up for.”

Erik gave Charles one last kiss before forcing himself up onto his good leg and reaching for the crutches. “Charles,” he said once he was steady, “thank you. For everything.”

“You're welcome,” Charles said, wheeling himself away so Erik can move past him. “I'll see you soon.”

Erik slowly made his way around the bed and nodded. “Yes, I suspect you will.”

“Goodbye, my friend,” Charles said, trying to keep himself composed.

“Goodbye, Charles,” Erik said, making his way to the door and then leaving the room. He'd barely been outside in the hall for ten seconds when suddenly Peter appeared in front of him. 

“I thought I'd save you the trip up to my room,” Peter said, grinning. “Dad.”

Erik took a deep breath and then looked up at Peter, smiling at him. “Thank you for that. Would you like to walk to the entry with me?”

Peter just nodded and they headed towards the elevator. “Are you going to tell me to be nice to Charles again?”

“I would hope that I didn't need to tell you that,” Erik said, making his way into the elevator once the doors opened. “But yes, please be nice to Charles. In fact, be nice to everyone. Don't be an asshole like I am.”

Peter just shook his head and pressed the button for the ground floor. “You're not an asshole.”

“No, Peter,” Erik said, shaking his head. “I really am.”

“Well, Dad, I disagree. And so does Charles. So I'm going with Charles's opinion on this one, Dad. I mean, Charles knows you better than anyone, right Dad?”

Erik looked over at Peter and laughed. “You weren't kidding about this calling me Dad as much as possible thing, were you?”

“No, I wasn't, Dad,” Peter said, walking out of the elevator when the doors open. “By the way, who's the hot blonde chick with the car? Should I be thinking about a stepmother or something?”

There was laughter echoing through the entry before Erik made it out of the elevator, and he looked over at Raven. “You might as well show him now.”

“Show me what?” Peter asked, confused.

Raven just smiled at him and slowly changed herself to her natural blue form, making Peter's jaw drop. “You're Mystique? Hot blonde chick is Mystique?”

“Hot blonde chick is not who I am,” Raven said. “This is who I am. And I shouldn't have to hide it in the form of a hot blonde chick.”

Peter's eyes widened, and he started waving his arms in front of himself so fast that they were a blur. “No, no, no, no. That's not what I meant! I mean, you're beautiful like this, and you're totally right, you shouldn't have to hide, and I just, you're really hot when you're the blonde chick. I'm a teenage boy. We notice hot chicks. That's all.”

“For the record,” Erik said from next to Peter, “you do not have to worry about a stepmother. Especially not Mystique.”

“Gee, thanks Erik,” Raven said, mock-glaring at him.

“You wouldn't put up with me and you know it,” Erik said, laughing. “You'd kick me out before the ink was dry on the marriage license.”

Raven broke out into a smile. “You're probably right about that. Come on, let's get going.”

Peter walked with them out of the mansion and to the car that was waiting outside, and Erik balanced himself against it while Peter stuck his crutches into the backseat. Erik went to climb into the car, but Peter reached out, grabbing him by the elbow.

“Wait, Dad.”

Erik looked up at Peter and sighed. “What, Peter?”

Peter reached into his pocket and pressed a key into Erik's hand. “Message from the Professor. Find what that key belongs to and you will find your helmet.”

Erik examined the nondescript key in his hand and sighed. “Thank him for making it easy for me.”

Peter just laughed. “I think that was the point.”

“Erik, come on,” Raven exclaimed from the driver's seat. “Let's go.”

Erik gave Peter one last smile and climbed into the car. Peter stood there and watched as the car drove away, then went back into the mansion to find Charles sitting there in the entry way.

“Did you do it?” Charles asked.

“Of course, Professor. I'm supposed to thank you for making it easy for him.”

Charles laughed loudly. “Come with me to the kitchen, Peter. How about an early breakfast?”

Peter grinned. “So long as I get to make it,” he said, and then disappeared.

Charles smiled and wheeled himself towards the kitchen. “Good luck at finding that, Erik. And if you do, you deserve that helmet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks once again for everyone who has followed along, let me know what you've thought in a comment, or just given me a kudos. you all made writing this worthwhile. more coming soon, but i need a little break to work on some other things. but there will be more, promise.

**Author's Note:**

> So I self-published a book! It's a YA fantasy story and if you want to get it (it's cheap!) then [go here!](http://www.amazon.com/Aetherion-Rising-Adelia-Chamberlain-ebook/dp/B00FUT7UF4/) Do you want to read the first two parts free? [Go here!](https://www.wattpad.com/story/44126937-aetherion-rising/parts)


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